DETROIT (AP) — Florine Mark, a Michigan business icon and former owner of Weight Watchers franchises in Michigan and Ontario, Canada, has died. She was 90.
Mark died Friday morning, said Kelly Woerner, a staff member with Ira Kaufman Chapel in the Detroit suburb of Southfield. She said additional details were not immediately available and that Mark’s relatives were meeting with chapel representatives.
Mark, who was born in Detroit, established the Michigan Weight Watchers franchise in 1966, having been inspired by the 50-pound (23-kilogram) weight loss she experienced after seeking help at a Weight Watchers chapter in New York. She eventually expanded to more than a dozen other states and also opened franchises in Canada and Mexico, according to the Detroit Historical Society.
“Florine was a fearless trailblazer and devoted friend,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday in…
