“Father of Aerobics” Wins Fitness Business Pro Magazine's 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award

Club Industry Honors Career of Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, Founder of Cooper Aerobics Center

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, founder and chairman of Cooper Aerobics Center, Dallas and McKinney, TX, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from Club Industry's Fitness Business Pro magazine at the Club Industry 2008 Conference and Trade Show in Chicago. The magazine will present Dr. Cooper with the award at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16, prior to Dr. Cooper giving the keynote address at the event.

“We’re very excited to present this award to Dr. Cooper this year”

Dr. Cooper coined the term “aerobics” in 1968, shortly afterwards, publishing a book titled “Aerobics” that became the first of 19 books he’s published. In 1970, he opened the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, a facility that now encompasses 10 businesses, including a preventive medicine clinic, fitness center and spa, and a nonprofit research institute. He opened a second location in McKinney, TX, in 2006. Dr. Cooper has spoken internationally about the importance of exercise. Most recently, he has become involved in efforts to test the fitness of school children in an effort to decrease the problem of childhood obesity.

“We’re very excited to present this award to Dr. Cooper this year,” said Pamela Kufahl, editor of Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro magazine, based in Overland Park, KS. “He’s made a significant difference in the fitness industry and in the health of Americans through his research on exercise and wellness, both creating and popularizing the term aerobics, his books, his former radio show and his international speaking engagements. He’s an outstanding representative of the fitness industry, and he’s done more to wake people up to the importance of exercise than almost anyone else in the business.”

This is the sixth year that Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro magazine has given out a Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous winners were Joe Weider, founder of Weider Publications; Joe Gold, founder of Gold’s Gym and World Gym; Judi Sheppard Missett, founder of Jazzercise; Rick Caro, president of Management Vision; and Alan Schwartz, co-founder of TCA Holdings. Profiles of these individuals and of Dr. Cooper can be found on the magazine’s Web site: http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/awardsrankings/.

Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro magazine, now celebrating its 25^th anniversary, is a monthly publication featuring news and trends focusing on issues of importance to owners and managers of fitness facilities. For more information about the magazine, go to www.fitnessbusinesspro.com.

Club Industry 2008 addresses the business needs of the entire professional fitness industry, for both for-profit and non-profit operations. It attracts multipurpose clubs and gyms, YM/YWCAs and JCCs, hospitals/ medical wellness centers, colleges, universities, schools, corporate fitness centers, municipal park and recreation/community centers, hotels/resorts/spas and government/military fitness operations, as well as personal trainers. It features an exhibit hall with more than 200 leading suppliers of cardiovascular and strength equipment, as well as all other products and services for fitness facilities. The exhibits run from Thursday, Oct. 16 through Saturday, Oct. 18.

Also presented will be a wide-ranging conference program with more than 150 seminars on topics of interest to fitness professionals, including inclusive fitness, nutrition and weight loss, corporate fitness, wellness/medical integration, personal training and more. Conference sessions begin on Wednesday, Oct. 15. For more information, visit www.clubindustryshow.com. Both the show and magazine are owned by Penton Media, Inc.

To obtain press credentials for the show, please contact Herb Greenebaum, Marketing Manager, at [phone] or [phone] or email [e-mail].

Penton Media, Inc. is the largest independent business-to-business media company in the U.S., serving more than six million business professionals every month. The company's market-leading brands are focused on 30 industries and include 113 trade magazines, 145 Web sites, 150 industry trade shows and conferences, and more than 500 information data products. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and its co-investors. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.