April 29, 2015: Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch died at the age of 91, more than 50 years after first dropping 70 pounds (and keeping it off). What started as a gathering of six overweight friends in her living room became a multimillion dollar corporation by the late 1960s. She sold the company to H.J. Heinz Co. for about $71 million in 1978. Decades after founding Weight Watchers, Nidetch remained a celebrity among the company's converts. Once an unhappy 214 pounds, Nidetch never topped 150 again.