The Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture is, in large part, the result of the Weider’s commitment to bodybuilding and other aspects of the “Iron Game” as well as to the financial support which made the completion of the museum possible. Through the Joe Weider Foundation, they have donated $ 2 million in support of this facility. In 2004, the Weiders established a $1 million endowment to be used to assist with the expenses involved in operating what was then known as the Todd-McLean Collection. In 2008, they committed another million dollars for the development of the Weider Museum. In addition, the Weiders have donated over 20 important pieces of art and other memorabilia from their personal collection, including three large oil paintings by the noted artist Thomas Beecham of Mr. Olympia winners Larry Scott, Franco Columbu, and Lee Haney; a portrait of Betty Weider; a painting of Joe Weider as imagined by Boris Vallejo; and a gym scene done by Lorenzo Ghiglieri in 1989 and based on a famous print made over a hundred years ago of the Hercules Club in Vienna. In addition to these exceptional paintings, the Weiders also sent a bronze sculpture from Germany of a kettlebell lifter. And, in May of 2011, the Weiders donated a beautiful bronze bust of Betty Weider by sculptor Frederick Russell. These pieces are currently on display, and many other significant artworks and memorabilia from the Weiders will be on display in the future. What’s more, Eric Weider—Joe Weider’s nephew and the CEO of WeiderEnterprises—has donated to the Weider Museum several exceptional artifacts once owned by his late father Ben Weider, who was President of the International Federation of Bodybuilders for over 50 years.

-from the Weider Museum website

 

Opening Night at the Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture