creator of PowerBar dies...

[dipstik]

article

Brian Maxwell, a former world-ranked marathoner who created the PowerBar in his kitchen to improve his performance and kicked off a sports nutrition revolution in the process, has died of an apparent heart attack, friends said on Sunday.

He was 51. Maxwell collapsed on Friday while waiting on line to mail a package at the San Anselmo post office in northern California's Marin County, friends said.

He was taken to Marin County General Hospital where he was pronounced dead, a hospital spokeswoman said. Maxwell was jogging and eating breakfast with his family hours before he died, friend and former co-worker Debbie Pfeifer told Reuters. By all appearances he seemed healthy, she said.

"His sudden passing was a shock and he will be greatly missed," Pfeifer said. "His entrepreneurial spirit, competitive drive, and generosity touched the lives of many people."

Born in London, Maxwell grew up in Toronto. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975 with a degree in architecture and received the Brutus Hamilton Award as the outstanding student athlete on the track team, according to the Internet sports resource, theactivenetwork.com, which listed Maxwell as a board member.

For eight years Maxwell earned a living as a long distance runner representing Canada in many international competitions. In 1977 he was ranked No. 3 marathoner in the world by Track & Field News. By 1980 he was the top-ranked Canadian marathon runner on the Olympic team that boycotted the Moscow Olympics.

In 1983 after winning 14 marathons Maxwell developed a stomach ailment that slowed his pace near the end of a race, causing him to finish a disappointing seventh.

He took to the kitchen in his Berkeley, California, apartment and began mixing various low-fat potions that could provide easily-digestible, quick energy.

The bar was developed over three years with help from Bill Vaughn, a biochemist from the University of California at Berkeley, and Jennifer Biddulph, a food science student who would later become his wife.

After offering homemade bars to several friends who claimed their performances improved, Maxwell decided to open a business. He poured his life savings into the company and manufactured 35,000 bars in malt-nut and chocolate flavors.

Maxwell was a natural grass-roots entrepreneur, said Pfeifer, who watched he and his wife personally hand out thousands of bars at Bay area sports events. "He wanted the company to appear bigger than it was so he painted a seven on one side of the PowerBar van and an eleven on the other to make it look like a fleet rather than just one van."

Over the next 13 years, PowerBar expanded into a multimillion-dollar company and created a bevy of competitors including Balance Bars and Clif Bars.

In 2000 the company was sold to Nestle SA, the world's biggest food company, for a reported $375 million, and Maxwell turned his energies to mentoring other entrepreneurs and philanthropic activities. He was also a big believer in maintaining a balance between work and family life, Pfeifer said, and he spent enormous amounts of time with his family. He is survived by his wife and six children.

[JR]

Bummer. I had heard that he had heart problems in the past. Some kind of hereditary heart condition if I recall correctly.

I read an article about him and apparently he was a real firecracker.

[splat]

Without taking from the sadness of his death, I will say his invention chipped three of my molars because it was water-based and froze in my pockets while skiing. My dentist said repairing Powerbar-chipped teeth was a regular occurrence for him.

[Viva]

Uhhh...fellas, he died, like, two months ago.

Ha, frozen Power Bars! At one of the early Western States 100 aid stations (mile 16.5, at about 7000 ft.) we had to chop Power Bars into pieces using a hatchet. This was back in 88, 89, 90, the early years of Power Bar before they perfected the formulation. In fact, Power Bar made it's first appearance at Western States and Iron Man before going on the market. We were the guinie pigs.

[dipstik]

Originally posted by Viva
Uhhh...fellas, he died, like, two months ago.

my bad. I just saw the article on skiracing.com and it was dated June 7th.

[Viva]

I pulled this off of some web site:

Brian Maxwell (1953 - March 19, 2004) was the founder of PowerBar, a maker of quick energy products for athletes.

Brian was born in London, England, and grew up in Toronto, Canada. He graduated with a degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975 where he was on the track team. As the outstanding student on the team, he won the Brutus Hamilton Award. In future years, he frequently represented Canada as a long distance runner in competitions.

He started the PowerBar company in his kitchen with $55,000 in cash and ended up with a company with $50 million in sales.

The company was purchased by Nestlé in 2000 for $375 million.

On March 19, 2004, he died of a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, a nutritionist and co-founder of the PowerBar company, and six children.

[EPSkis]

Jim Fixx / Brian Maxwell.

I already knew running wasn't all it's cracked up to be.


Damn ~ 375 Million dollars? That's a tidy profit off a 55k investment...