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A Remarkable and Purposeful Life
By John Kersh
For most people, acts of philanthropy usually involve donations of money to worthwhile causes. For Carlos Heitor Bergallo, philanthropy meant pouring his time and energy directly into improving the health of his community and the world.. And, like many people who are deeply committed to helping others, he did it with little fanfare, in his personal and quiet way - well planned, well-organized, and with specific and clear goals in mind.
Beneath his unassuming and ego-free demeanor, Carlos Heitor held a deep well of experience, knowledge and accomplishment, much of which went unnoticed by his peers in the fitness industry. To him, the most important thing was the result, not the accolades. Were you to meet him for the first time, you might never learn about his successful health club company, Fisilabor, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nor might you learn that he was fluent in English, Spanish and Italian - and that he could converse reasonably well in German - in addition to his native Portuguese.
By training, Carlos Heitor was a medical doctor, a neurologist, in fact, with a specialty in sports medicine. In his post-residency years, from 1979 to 1989, he was the chief medical officer for Nuclebrás, the Brazilian government nuclear program, where he oversaw the development and management of health and hygiene programs for over 6,000 nuclear energy workers across Brazil. In 1987, Carlos Heitor's training was put to the test during a radiation emergency in Goiânia, Brazil, in which over 250 people were affected. At the time, it was one of the hemisphere's worst radiological contamination incidents.
His sports background, combined with his medical experience, led him to experiment with the effects of exercise on some of the patients affected with radioactivity. This was a groundbreaking, and successful, approach, which gained international recognition for the value of physical activity in treating certain radiological illness.
In 1984, Carlos Heitor and a business partner decided to enter the fitness industry by opening their first health club, called Fisilabor. But this was no ordinary gym focused on the body-conscious “Cariocas” of Rio. In contrast, they set out to create one of the first medically-oriented fitness clubs in Latin America, using their expertise to develop programs which were well ahead of their time: Extensive medical fitness evaluations provided to all members; Exercise classes and programs designed for different levels of experience and conditioning; A club-based sports medicine clinic; Custom-developed CRM software to support staff and to communicate with members. In 1991, Fisilabor added a second commercial club to their portfolio, in order to expand their reach deeper into the population.
Possibly most important to the future of Fisilabor, and to the realization of Carlos Heitor's dream, was the application of his medical fitness experience into the corporate market. Over two decades, he was the driving force behind the development of extensive on-site fitness programs at the corporate offices of several prominent international and Brazilian companies, including IBM, Coca Cola, TIM (national telephone provider) and BNDES (government development bank).
Inspired by the success of IHRSA in strengthening the American health club industry, in 1999 Carlos Heitor decided to dive into deep political waters to found, and serve as president of, the first Brazilian non-profit association for health clubs. Launched first as a state association, and later expanded nationally, the Associação Brasileira de Academias (ACAD) has worked to establish the Brazilian health club industry more positively in the eyes of government, media and corporations.
IHRSA recognized Carlos Heitor's personal and professional commitment to the club industry, and in 2000, invited him to become the first-ever Latin American Ambassador to the IHRSA Board of Directors, a position in which he was proud and honored to serve.
Carlos Heitor's pioneering spirit lives on through his successful clubs in Rio, through the hundreds of employees of corporations whose lives he has improved, through the thousands of Brazilian club owners whose future he has strengthened, and through the IHRSA organization, whose international vision has been broadened by his participation.
Carlos Heitor Bergallo's spirit lives on most vividly through his friends and family, who remember him as an idealistic visionary with a passion for physical activity, sports and health.
John Kersh is the founder and president of GO! 30 Minute Workout, a co-ed express fitness franchise in Brazil, and was previously the director of international development for IHRSA. He can be reached at john@go30.com.br.
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