--- title: Weight Watchers Founder Dies at 91 description: Jean Nidetch, the founder of the popular weight loss plan Weight Watchers, died Wednesday at the age of 91. canonical: https://time.com/3840580/jean-nidetch-weight-watchers-founder-dies/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-29T19:29:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:47:41.598Z article:section: Health og:title: Weight Watchers Founder Dies at 91 og:description: Jean Nidetch made weekly weight loss meetings into a big business og:url: https://time.com/3840580/jean-nidetch-weight-watchers-founder-dies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4c65127d75fb59/6987ed8bcd1bba953e6f936b/jean-nidetch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2406 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Jean Nidetch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Weight Watchers Founder Dies at 91 twitter:description: Jean Nidetch made weekly weight loss meetings into a big business twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4c65127d75fb59/6987ed8bcd1bba953e6f936b/jean-nidetch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Weight Watchers Founder Dies at 91 > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 29, 2015 7:29 PM UTC  In this photo taken July, 18, 2011, Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers, is shown at her home in Parkland, Fla. In this photo taken July, 18, 2011, Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers, is shown at her home in Parkland, Fla. Alan Diaz—AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 29, 2015 7:29 PM UTC Jean Nidetch, the founder of the popular diet plan Weight Watchers, died Wednesday at the age of 91. Nidetch, who struggled to lose weight, started Weight Watchers after hosting weekly meetings with overweight friends at her home to talk about their issues with weight and dieting. She went from 214 pounds to 142, and before long, Weight Watchers was founded. Nidetch and her fellow founders became millionaires when the company went public in 1968, the [New York _Times_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/business/jean-nidetch-dies-at-91-co-founder-of-weight-watchers-and-dynamic-speaker.html). The company was eventually sold to H.J. Heinz. Nidetch died at her home at in Parkland, Fla., [CBS News reports](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/weight-watchers-founder-jean-nidetch-dies-at-91/). “Compulsive eating is an emotional problem, and we use an emotional approach to its solution,” said Nidetch in a 1972 article published in TIME. The first version of Weight Watchers focused on foods like lean meats and fruits and vegetables, but as the New York _Times_ writes, the emotional support was always one of the distinguishing parts of the program. Today Weight Watchers remains a very popular diet, and continues to offer weekly meetings. [Recent studies](http://time.com/3772943/best-weight-loss-program/) have shown that Weight Watchers tends to work better than other diets for people trying to slim down. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3840580/jean-nidetch-weight-watchers-founder-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3840580/jean-nidetch-weight-watchers-founder-dies/"},"headline":"Weight Watchers Founder Dies at 91","datePublished":"2015-04-29T19:29:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:47:41.598Z","description":"Jean Nidetch made weekly weight loss meetings into a big business","url":"https://time.com/3840580/jean-nidetch-weight-watchers-founder-dies/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","overweight","Weight loss"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4c65127d75fb59/6987ed8bcd1bba953e6f936b/jean-nidetch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4c65127d75fb59/6987ed8bcd1bba953e6f936b/jean-nidetch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jean Nidetch","caption":"Jean Nidetch","creditText":"Alan Diaz—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3840580/jean-nidetch-weight-watchers-founder-dies/","name":"Weight Watchers Founder Dies at 91"}}]}] ```