Jim Fixx - Death

Death

On July 20, 1984, Fixx died at age 52 of a fulminant heart attack, after his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%. Although comedians remarked on the irony of dying while exercising, and there were opponents of Fixx's beliefs who said this was evidence that running was harmful, medical opinion continued to uphold the link between exercise and longevity. In 1986 exercise physiologist Kenneth Cooper published an inventory of the risk factors that might have contributed to Fixx's death. Granted access to his medical records and autopsy, and after interviewing his friends and family, Cooper concluded that Fixx was genetically predisposed (his father died of a heart attack at age 43 and Fixx himself had a congenitally enlarged heart), and had several lifestyle issues. Fixx was a heavy smoker prior to beginning running at age 36, he had a stressful occupation, he had undergone a second divorce, and his weight before he took up running had ballooned to 220 pounds (100 kg).

A carved granite monument — a book with an inscription to Jim Fixx from the people of Northeast Scotland — now stands in Hardwick Memorial Park in Hardwick, Vermont.