Ben Weider, who helped establish the fitness empire that bears his family's name, died at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal on Friday at the age of 85.

Weider was born in Montreal on Feb. 1, 1923 and spent 60 years in bodybuilding. He was also a philanthropist and scholar, and published several books on Napoleon Bonaparte.

Ben Weider's theory that French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte died of arsenic poisoning was strengthened by a toxicological analysis on Napoleon's hair by Strasbourg's forensic laboratory. (Jacques Brinon/Associated Press)

In 2001, he presented new evidence by forensic experts suggesting the French emperor did not die of stomach cancer but was poisoned by arsenic.

In 1946, he and his older brother Joe founded the International Federation of Body Builders, a group foreshadowing what would become a worldwide fitness revolution.

He was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1975 and promoted to officer within the order in February 2007.

Credited in some circles with discovering a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian bodybuilding great who is now governor of California, Weider received the French Legion of Honour, France's highest national honour, in 2000.

His death comes only days before the planned opening of a permanent exhibit featuring his collection of artifacts from the French emperor.

Weider is survived by his wife and three sons.

Funeral services will be held Monday at Montreal's Paperman's Funeral Home.