Photo by Paul Buceta
On April 12, 2012, Robert H. Kennedy passed away from terminal lung cancer. He was the founder and publisher of Robert Kennedy Publishing (RKP), which produces several well-known health and fitness magazines. He was 73.
I worked for Bob Kennedy for a year and a half. He gave me my start in publishing, hiring me on as a copy editor for what was then called American Health and Fitness magazine, which later became Maximum Fitness magazine. I learned a lot about fitness, diet, and general good health habits while I was there—though to my shame, I haven’t put a lot of that knowledge to good use.
Bob was a Mississauga icon—MississaugaLife profiled him in our “Made in Mississauga” feature in our October 2011 issue—and a giant in the field of bodybuilding media. He began training with weights when he was a teenager, and that interest in physical fitness never waned—when I was working at RKP, he was in his late ’60s and was still doing 100-pound biceps curls.
He worked as a teacher for several years in England and then in Brampton, but in 1974 he dropped everything to start MuscleMag International. Over the years, his publishing empire expanded to include Oxygen, Reps!, American Curves and Clean Eating, plus several books including the bestselling The Eat-Clean Diet books, written by Bob’s wife, Tosca Reno. He was a prolific author, writing 53 books during his life. Bob also had a lifelong interest in painting and photography. At one point, he even had a chain of fitness stores.
Arnold Schwarzenegger came up to visit Bob during his last days. If you go to Tosca’s blog, you can see a photo of Arnold and Bob. If you want to send your condolences, you can do so here.
Rest in peace, Bob. You will be missed.
(Originally posted on mississaugalife.ca.)
Leo Graziani 