Florine Mark was a businesswoman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a former president and CEO of Weight Watchers.
- Died: October 13, 2023 (Who else died on October 13?)
- Details of death: Died outside Detroit at the age of 90.
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Florine Mark’s legacy
Born in Detroit, Mark once told an interviewer that she thought most of her family was “fat” because her grandmother loved to cook with sugar and butter. The food was delicious, she said, but not great for their health. Spurred by that belief and a positive experience with the New York chapter of Weight Watchers, Mark established a Michigan Weight Watchers franchise in 1966. Her business savvy led her to opening franchises in more than a dozen other states, as well as in Canada and Mexico.
Mark became the president and CEO of Weight Watchers Group Inc., and for more than 50 years was the leading franchise holder in Weight Watchers International. She relinquished that crown only when Weight Watchers International began buying up franchises in 2003, although she retained control of operations in Michigan until 2021.
When not expanding her business, Mark was a philanthropist, giving her time to such charitable and civic organizations as the Jewish Federations of North America, Business Leaders of Michigan, and others. She had been on the boards of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and more. Mark also served on the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, was chair of the Chicago Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Detroit, and just a week before her death, received the Women Who Make a Difference Award from the International Women’s Forum.
Notable quote
“There’s so much hate going on in the world. We have to have peace, and I just like to remind people how important love, love, loving yourself and loving other people is.”—from an October 2023 interview in The Detroit Jewish News
Tributes to Florine Mark
Full obituary: The Detroit News
