"I like to keep busy," announces the trim fellow with the resting heartbeat of 60 who enjoys mountain biking, works out three days a week and still is the active CEO of his own business.
This man is not your typical 71-year-old.
Robert Rice, with his longtime partner, Ken Melby, is one of the pioneers of the health spa world. And even after a 50-year partnership, they're still expanding their businesses with the anticipated opening of another big and well-appointed Lifestyles 2000 club at 9400 S. 700 East.
Years ago, the partners created European Health Spa, which became the world's largest fitness company with nearly 200 locations. It went public, they sold it and then began other gyms under different names.
Today, they own Lifestyles 2000 health clubs in Utah, French Riviera Health Spas in several Southern states and Spa Fitness Centers in Hawaii — a total of 55 gyms that are considerably larger than the early health clubs.
When Rice got interested in physical fitness and began that first club in 1952, the whole idea of exercising was considered a little eccentric. Only "health nuts" or body builders did such things.
"When I came into the business, exercise was thought to be not necessary," Rice said, smiling behind a big desk in his sunny Holladay office. "I wrote to one insurance company and they wrote back, 'Exercise has no proven benefits. Proceed with caution.' "
Perhaps the biggest shift in the industry that Rice has observed is that exercise has become mainstream and the average person — not just athletes or body builders — recognizes that working out promotes a healthy life.
It also didn't hurt when President John F. Kennedy created the President's Council on Physical Fitness, which raised awareness even more. Rice served on President Richard Nixon's council.
Rice and Melby also have done their part by building bigger and more attractive gyms, adding a wider selection of equipment so people have more choices, offering on-site child care at many facilities and making sure that staff members are well trained. Among other things, the two men also have made efforts to get women into the world of exercise.
Gyms come and go, and financial failures are not uncommon — sometimes leaving membership-owning customers with nothing. "We have an easier time enrolling people," Rice said. "People have confidence in us."
Rice credits the robustness of his health club business to the fact that it has been around so long, its reputation is solid and widely known and the employees do their work well. He singles out Gilbert Ruiz, the general manager of Lifestyles 2000 in Utah, for doing especially well in hiring and retaining good people.
Another industry change is that gyms no longer are bare-bones places with home-tooled exercise equipment that needs constant maintenance. "They have to be really big nice places. This is a very high-capital business. You have to spend $4-5 million on each," he said.
In his off-work time, Rice is heavily involved in community and charity work, helping young people, the arts and other causes. He also is a former LDS Church stake president and for the past six years has performed marriages and other ordinances in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.
He doesn't give figures but said in the past 15-20 years, the business has done better than ever before, which helps with another favorite activity — philanthropy. He gave $1 million to the University of Utah in 1972 to help renovate Rice-Eccles Stadium. Today, he supports many community, artistic and youth efforts. "I feel the Lord has blessed me and I feel I have a duty to give back as much as I can."
Rice and his wife, Joyce, keep a condo in Hawaii but can't be away from Salt Lake City too long because of his many commitments. They also enjoy the company of their six children, all of whom live in the Salt Lake area, and 25 grandchildren.
Will he ever retire?
Rice looks surprised at the question. "I think you should have a reason to get out of bed every day. Retirement is when people sort of go downhill," he said. "I think it's a shame when some big companies require people to retire at 65."
Those early retirees who go on to become entrepreneurs or who are heavily involved in volunteerism have the right idea, according to Rice. But those that just "get in a rocking chair" are making a mistake.
"There is always something we older people can do in the community," Rice said. "We just have to roll up our sleeves."
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com