Florine Mark learned how to control her weight and
turned the lesson into an international business.

ALAN ABRAMS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

economist who has served as president
and chief executive officer of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago since 1994, said,
"It is an honor for us to have an individ-
ual of Florine Mark's stature serve as
chairperson. Her background as a busi-
nessperson and entrepreneur brings im-
portant experience to our organization."
Florine Mark's rise to this position of
entrepreneurial prominence started with
her perpetual quest for a way. to lose
weight.
"I was living in Detroit. I had taken
every diet pill ever made available, gone
to every diet doctor, and had lost 50 pounds
at least nine times that I can remember.
That's almost 500 pounds," said Ms. Mark
"A doctor gave me a diet pill, and I over-
dosed on it. One pill! They said I had an
allegeric reaction to it, and I ended up in
the hospital. And my family doctor said,
`If you ever take any more pills, I'm not go-
ing to be responsible for your life.'
"So what do you do, get fatter and fat-
ter?' Ms. Mark wondered. "I never thought
I could ever do it by myself. I exercised, I
was a member of the Jewish Communi-
ty Center. I did everything possible to lose
weight.
"Then I heard about this thing called
Weight Watchers in New York, and I just
thought it was my last hope.
Florine Mark I was sitting there wearing
turned her
pounds into a a size 20, with five little chil-
dren and hating myself. I de-
business.
cided to call them (Weight
Watchers) up, and they said, `No, we don't
have one in Detroit. You'll have to come to
New York."
So she went to New York. "I made a deal
with them that I could come once a month.
I stayed for five days, Monday through Fri-
day, and it was the most unbelievable
thing that ever happened to me. I went to
three classes a day, 15 classes a week, so
I really immersed myself
"I didn't go to start a business. I just
went to lose weight," said Ms. Mark.
"My friends and everybody at home
were laughing at me and saying, 'Oh, an-
other one of Florin's things," Ms. Mark
said. "I had drunk safflower oil, I'd done
the craziest things to lose weight.
"The first month [on Weight Watchers],
I lost 10 pounds. I lost 10 pounds a month.
After I lost 40 pounds, Jean Nidetch (who
founded Weight Watchers International
in May, 1963) came to me and said, 'Why
don't you take this back to Detroit?' And I

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Crl JUL Y 18, 199 7

hen the pressures of busi-
ness become too stressful for
Florine Mark, the president
and chief executive officer of
the Farmington Hills-based
WW (Weight Watchers)
. Group, Inc., reaches for a Her-
shey's Symphony Bar, with al-
mond chunks, no less.
And depending upon the size of her r
stress, it could be a small, medium, or even 2T-
large-size bar.
But not to worry. Ms. Mark, who has
made her fortune by helping people lose
weight and keep it off, said that only hap- Pc,
pens once every six weeks or so. When it ±
does, she follows the advice that has been
successfully doled out to more than 25 mil-
lion members of the Weight Watchers or-
ganization worldwide since its inception
34 years ago. "I give myself permission (to
eat it) and build it into my program," said
Ms. Mark.
The next time Federal Reserve Board
Chairman Alan Greenspan decides to low-
er the interest rate, you may want to thank
Ms. Mark for her input.
Ms. Mark was first appointed to the
board of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago - Detroit Branch in 1994 by the
Federal Reserve Board of Governors in
Washington, D.C.She replaced John
Forsyth, president of University of Michi-
gan Hospitals.
Last July, Ms. Mark was appointed
chairperson. Her term on the board is for
six years.
Ms. Mark is the sole Jewish member of
the local board, and is only the second
woman to serve as chair of the Detroit
Branch. (Phyllis Teeters, of Deloutte and
Touche, was appointed in January 1986,
and served through December 1992.)
The seven-member board advises Chair-
man Greenspan on whether to lower or
raise interest rates by tracking the pulse
of regional economic conditions. Mr.
Greenspan meets with the board annual-
ly.
"We are responsible for overseeing the
running of the bank, not the micro-
managing or macromanaging, but mak-
ing sure that the bank is running
properly," said Ms. Mark.
Ms. Mark represents the private busi-
ness sector on the board. The other mem-
bers include CEOs of major banking
institutions in Detroit and lower Michi-
gan.
Michael H. Moskow, the author and