[Editor's Note: Club Industry will update this story with remembrances from other friends and colleagues of Nieto as they are received.]
Augie Nieto, who co-founded Life Fitness, died on Feb. 22. He turned 65 years old on Feb. 15.
“Augie passed peacefully yesterday surrounded by his beloved wife, Lynne, his family and loved ones,” according to a notice posted on social media on Feb. 23 from Augie’s Quest, an organization he co-founded after being diagnosed in 2005 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells, causing muscles to waste away.
Augie’s Quest is a nonprofit focused on raising the funds and awareness needed to advance research and fast-track effective treatments to cure ALS. Since 2005, nearly $200 million has been raised for ALS research. Among other achievements, these funds helped to establish the Augie’s Quest Translational Research Center at the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) to better understand the mechanisms of how ALS affects the body and use the knowledge to develop new, more effective treatments for the disease. Augie’s Quest funding has led to development of Tegoprubart (formerly AT-1501), a promising ALS treatment in development and marks the first time in history a non-profit organization research project has reached this stage of drug development, according to Augie's Quest.
In 1977, Nieto founded Lifecycle with an exercise bike of the same name. In 1984, Bally Manufacturing Corp. purchased Lifecycle Inc. from Nieto and Ray Wilson for $10 million and renamed it Bally Fitness Products Inc. Nieto remained with the company. In 1987, the company was renamed Life Fitness and eventually added strength equipment. In 1991, Nieto partnered with Mancuso & Co. to buy the company back from Bally. In 1997, he sold the company to Brunswick Corp.
In 2001, Nieto became an operating advisor for private equity firm North Castle Partners. He also had served as a board member of Octane Fitness, Quest Software and DynaVox.
Club Industry gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and put together a profile of him at that time that can be read here, detailing more about his life and contributions.
Upon his death, this email with the subject line “Forever in your heart – a message from Augie” went to several people close to him:
“If you are reading this, then that day has come….
As hard as it is to leave my dear friends and family behind, I know that my fight is not over. I have battled ALS for almost 18 years. Physically, ALS has finally taken my body, but my battle to rid the world of this insidious disease will continue.
I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. I was luckier than most and was able to enjoy those close to me longer than so many friends with ALS. I am thankful for my family, as I count them as the finest achievement of my life. I am thankful for my friends who stayed by my side and were a constant reminder of how precious life is, despite its difficulties.
Please keep me in your hearts…please help continue the progress of Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS. Please help Lynne to carry on the mission – the second finest achievement of my life. Because I will be in your heart, I will get to experience the joy when we discover a cure.
Thank you for making my life better, by virtue of being in it!
Forever in your heart,
-Augie
P.S. in my memory, tell someone you love a funny or inappropriate joke – and think of me.
P.S.S. Details regarding Celebrating my Life will be shared when the arrangements are finalized.”
Remembrances of Nieto from people inside and outside the fitness industry can be read on his Facebook page.
Ron Hemelgarn, who owns Super Fitness Centers, shared with Club Industry the following remembrances of Nieto:
“It has been my honor and great fortune to have known Augie for roughly 45 years. I admired him as a young man with a fireball, positive, can-do attitude that never left him right up to his passing. Augie took on various challenges in the fitness industry, always focusing on the word “win.” Because of his commitment to fitness, he became a giant in our industry.
“When ALS began its attack on Augie at such a young age, he struggled with the devastating diagnosis as we all would. That very year, it was easy to decide Augie deserved to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, and there would be a fundraiser for the deadly disease – raising over a million dollars! The love that poured in for Augie was all he needed, and thus Augie’s Quest was on its way!
“Augie has made his mark on ALS like any other endeavor he has ever undertaken but with more of a relentless determination — all in the name of finding a cure. His impact on ALS is immense! I know we will all miss him, but it is now up to us to carry on for Augie. He has shown us the way. Let’s support Lynne and his family and make him proud!
“Rest in peace, dear friend.”
As Hemelgarn noted, after Nieto founded Augie’s Quest, the fitness industry helped Nieto fight ALS by putting on various fundraising efforts, including the annual Augie’s Bash held at the IHRSA conference.
Petra Robinson, president of Petra Robinson Inc., served on the Augie's Quest Fitness Advisory Board, introducing him to the Albertos from Zumba.
"We were determined to do what we could to help shine a light on this awful disease to help eradicate it in Augie's lifetime," she said. "Unfortunately, ALS won this battle, but with Augie looking down on us from above, we will win the war. That is our promise to Augie and Lynne. He was such an inspiration, innovator, entrepreneur and had the best sense of humor. He will be missed dearly."
Kevin McHugh, president and COO of The Atlantic Club, was one of the many industry people who helped to raise funds for Augie’s Quest.
“I initially knew Augie as a very driven and successful fitness industry leader prior to Augie’s Quest,” McHugh shared in an email to Club Industry. “… Over the past 10 or more years, Augie, Lynne and the Augie Quest team/family provided me the opportunity to closely work with them in developing with Patricia Laus, owner of The Atlantic Club and great friend to Augie, the grassroots fitness industry program now known as Augie’s Quest.”
McHugh called Nieto a “master challenger,” a term he said he used in a positive way.
“I remember several times over the years where we would just go back and forth in live compassionate conversational emails when my family was experiencing some illnesses in my family,” McHugh said. “It was like he had no personal medical issues of his own.”
Nieto appreciated it when individuals went the extra yard not for him but those living everyday with ALS, McHugh said.
“The one goal that we did not personally attain for Augie was for him to have the cure for ALS before his passing last night to his next new journey,” McHugh said, noting how hard Nieto, his family, his friends and the Augie’s Quest team had worked toward that goal.
“I will continue to support Augie’s legacy so that we are able to deliver the cure for ALS, which is closer because of Augie’s vision,” McHugh said. “Augie was a difference maker that always showed up to prove that anything and everything is possible.”
The email sent for Nieto after his death began with this quote, attributed to Winnie the Pooh: “If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.”
Mike Alpert, now COO with Smart Health Clubs, knew Nieto back in the 1970s when Nieto first started selling Lifecycles from his van and bought his first Lifecycle from Nieto in 1991. However, he didn’t get to know Nieto well until 2104 after Nieto started working out at the Claremont Club in Claremont, California, which had a studio that worked with people who have spinal cord injuries. With the help of his care givers, Nieto traveled 52 miles from his home to the club three times per week for three years to work out in the studio.
“Week after week after week we saw amazing progress and improvements in his functionality and overall quality of life,” Alpert said. “I got to see Augie do things that were amazing.”
For example, after working out at the studio, Nieto could sit at a 45-degree angle and leg press 130 pounds 30 times. He developed hip and wrist flexion and began smiling again with color returning to his face, Alpert said.
“ I kept thinking: isn’t it amazing that getting Augie back in the gym where he made his living and getting him to exercising with our method made all this difference?” Alpert said. “But here is the huge difference that Augie made for us: he opened my eyes to see that if we could make this kind of difference for someone with ALS, could it also help people with multiple sclerosis; cerebral palsy; Parkinson’s; stroke; traumatic brain injury and dementia/ Alzheimer’s? And thanks to Augie, by 2016 we were working with 114 people of which 55 were spinal cord injuries and 59 were a mix of people with all of the above chronic health conditions. All were showing significant improvements. We would have never done this without Augie.”
Alpert said that Nieto touched many people in positive ways.
“For me, he was an inspiration and a person who changed so many lives through his work to find a cure for ALS,” he said. “He showed us all his love for his family and was a committed husband and father. He was tenacious, hard working and never heard the word impossible. He truly had an amazing impact on everyone.”
Nieto was a 2008 inductee into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame inductee from the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA). NSGA President & CEO Matt Carlson said: “Mr. Nieto had a significant impact on so many lives through his innovative spirit to help people become more physically fit and then with his determination to find a cure for ALS. He raised tremendous awareness to the battle he fought with ALS and that legacy will live on as the search for a cure continues. We are saddened to hear about Mr. Nieto’s passing, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and everyone he has helped and touched during his life.”
To honor Nieto’s memory, Augie’s Quest is urging people to donate to help find a cure for ALS at Augie’s Quest.