The lifelong body-building enthusiast opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, California in 1965, calling it “the first gym made specifically for bodybuilders”.

It was also the gym that the young Arnold Schwarzeneggar trained in when he arrived in America from Austria, sparking a life-long friendship.

Gold sold his first gym in the 1970s and went on to found the World Gym franchise chain, opening the first site in Santa Monica in 1977. The chain now has more than 300 sites worldwide.

Gold was IHRSA man of the year in 1999 and in 2001 was given a Lifetime Achievement award by the International Fitness Trade Association.

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