Les Mills founder and former Auckland mayor dies aged 91

Les Mills Snr, the Auckland athlete, mayor and businessman who helped turn group exercise into a global licensed industry, died peacefully on 29 June 2026 aged 91. A memorial service was scheduled for Friday 3 July 2026 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, Auckland, as his family and company marked the death of a man they called a “Kiwi icon.”

Born on 1 November 1934, Mills built his first public profile on the field and in the ring rather than in the boardroom. He competed in four Olympic Games between 1960 and 1972 in discus and shot put, a rare span of elite competition that placed him among New Zealand’s most durable track-and-field figures. He later moved into civic life and served three terms as mayor of Auckland from 1990 to 1998, giving him a public role that extended far beyond the gym floor.

The business that carried his name began in 1968, when Mills and his wife Colleen opened the first Les Mills gym on Victoria Street in central Auckland. What started as a local operation grew, through the work of his son Phillip Mills and daughter-in-law Jackie Mills, into Les Mills International, a company built around choreographed classes set to music and licensed to gyms around the world. The brand now says it spans 23 programs and operates in more than 100 countries, with millions of people using its science-backed workouts.

Two of those programs became defining products for the company’s rise. BODYPUMP started in 1991 as a dumbbell class in a basement gym before becoming Les Mills’ signature barbell workout. BODYCOMBAT developed into a martial-arts-inspired global program, part of the same system that helped standardize group fitness for commercial gyms far beyond New Zealand. The company’s official history traces that lineage back to 1968, when the first Les Mills gym opened in Auckland and a family business began to scale into an international fitness brand.

Mills is survived by his children Phillip and Donna, grandchildren Diana, Les Jr, Gabriel and Moana, and great-grandchildren. His death closes the life of an Olympian who became a mayor and then, through a family business, helped define how millions now experience organized exercise.