Celebrity Deathwatch: Mark Reynolds Hughes, Herbalife founder, 44

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/diet.fitness/05/22/obit.hughes.ap/index.html

Herbalife founder Mark Reynolds Hughes dead at 44

May 22, 2000
Web posted at: 4:08 PM EDT (2008 GMT)


MALIBU, California (AP) -- Mark Reynolds Hughes, the multimillionaire
founder of the Herbalife empire of weight loss and nutritional products, has
died at age 44.

Hughes was found dead Sunday in his Malibu mansion, said Los Angeles County
sheriff's Sgt. Norine Plett. He died of apparent natural causes but an
autopsy will determine the cause of death, she said.

Los Angeles-based Herbalife, which Hughes founded in 1980, sells products in
48 countries, according to its Web site.

It said Hughes was inspired to found the company by the death of his mother
from an accidental overdose of prescription diet pills when he was 18. In a
message on the site, Hughes wrote, "I've dedicated my life to bringing the
finest weight loss, nutritional and personal care products to everyone
around the world."

But during the 1980s, Hughes battled the Food and Drug Administration and
the California attorney general's office over the way the company's products
were marketed. Regulators contended the company was making medicinal claims.
Medicines are regulated by the FDA, while nutritional supplements are not.

"If they're such experts, then why are they fat?" Hughes said in 1985 at a
Senate hearing. "I've lost 16 pounds in the last few years."

Hughes reached settlements with the regulatory agencies in 1986, including
paying $850,000 to settle California regulators' claims.

That same year, Hughes took his company public. But he announced plans last
fall to buy it back and make it private. In April, he announced he was
withdrawing his $510 million offer because of difficulties in arranging
financing.

Herbalife's 1999 sales totaled $956.2 million.

Hughes made headlines last year with plans to build a 45,000-square-foot
 4,050-square-meter) home on 157 acres ( 63 hectares) above affluent
Benedict Canyon, raising criticism of neighborhood residents. Had it been
built, it would have been bigger than the White House.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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