Herbalife Founding father

Founding father of weight-loss empire dead at 44

'If they are such experts, then what makes them body fat?' he once stated of U.S. federal government bodies

Connected Press, May 23, 2000

Malibu, Calif. -- Mark Reynolds Hughes, multimillionaire founding father of the Herbalife empire of weight-loss and dietary items, has died aged 44.

Mr. Hughes was discovered accurate Sunday in the Malibu mansion, stated Sergeant Norine Plett from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

He died of apparent natural causes but an autopsy determines the precise reason for death, she stated.

Los Angeles-based Herbalife, which Mr. Hughes founded in 1980, sells items in 48 nations, based on its Site.

It stated Mr. Hughes was inspired to found the organization through the death of his mother from an accidental overdose of prescription weight loss supplements when he was 18. Inside a message on the website, Mr. Hughes authored: "I have devoted my existence to getting the best weight-loss, dietary and private-care items to everybody all over the world.Inch

But throughout the eighties, Mr. Hughes fought the U.S. Fda and also the California attorney-general's office over how a company's items were promoted. Government bodies contended the organization was making medicinal claims. Medications are controlled through the Food and drug administration, while dietary supplements aren't.

"If they are such experts, then what makes them body fat?" Mr. Hughes stated in 1985 in a Senate hearing. "I have lost 16 pounds within the last couple of years."

Mr. Hughes arrived at pay outs using the regulating agencies in 1986 that involved having to pay $850,000 to stay California regulators' claims.

That same year, Mr. Hughes required his company public. But he introduced plans last fall to purchase it back making it private. In April, he introduced he was pulling out his $510-million (U.S.) offer due to difficulties in organizing financing.

Herbalife's 1999 sales totalled $956.2-million.

Mr. Hughes made head lines this past year with intends to develop a 45,000-square-feet home on 157 acres above affluent Benedict Canyon, raising critique of neighbourhood citizens. Been with them been built, it could have been larger than the Whitened House.