Les Mills, the New Zealand Olympian who founded the gym chain that bears his name, died Monday at age 91, his company announced.
Mills, who represented New Zealand in discus and shot put at four Olympic Games and won five Commonwealth Games medals, died peacefully, according to a statement from his company. The statement did not specify a cause of death.
He was also the mayor of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, from 1990 to 1998. The first Les Mills gym opened in Auckland in 1968, and the chain now operates 12 locations throughout New Zealand.
Mills' son, Phillip Mills, later launched the Les Mills International brand, which offers group fitness classes like BodyPump and BodyCombat. These classes are taught in more than 100 countries.
Born in Auckland in 1934, Mills was inspired to open a gym after an athletics scholarship took him to the United States, where he observed the growth of the fitness industry. In 1966, he won a gold medal for discus at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. His New Zealand national record for shot put, set in 1967, remained unbeaten for 44 years.
After retiring from competitive athletics, Mills worked as a coach and administrator in sports including track and field, weightlifting, and football. He served as the national sports director in Papua New Guinea from 1974 to 1976.
Mills' wife, Colleen, died in 2005. He is survived by his children Phillip and Donna, his daughter-in-law Jackie, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.