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Weight Watchers founder dies

Jean Nidetch

PARKLAND, Fla. — A half-century after dropping 70 pounds and keeping them off, Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch made some allowances: Cokes in her fridge, Klondikes in her freezer, the occasional potato or extra piece of bread on her plate. But she never again touched the chocolate marshmallow cookies she called her ultimate weakness, the treat she’d stash in the hamper and eat by the boxful in the middle of the night.

“Why would I want to see that movie again?” she asked.

Weight-loss royalty to the end, Nidetch died Wednesday at 91. Her brainchild made her a multimillionaire, a late-night fixture, the inspiring face that could stir droves of Weight Watchers adherents to a frenzy. But she kept her vow to never be overweight again, and beamed with pride she had helped so many others do the same.

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