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{{Short description|Heaviest ever recorded human (1941–1983)}}
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{{Short description|Heaviest recorded human in history}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Jon Brower Minnoch
| name = Jon Brower Minnoch
| image = Jon Brower Minnoch.jpg
| image = Jon Brower Minnoch.jpg
| caption = Minnoch (date unknown)
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|09|29}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|09|29}}
| birth_place = [[Seattle, Washington]], U.S.
| birth_place = Seattle, Washington, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|09|4|1941|09|29}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|09|4|1941|09|29}}
| death_place = [[Seattle, Washington]], U.S.
| death_place = Seattle, Washington, U.S.
| burial_place = Mount Pleasant Cemetery, [[King County, Washington]]
| burial_place = Mount Pleasant Cemetery, [[King County, Washington]]
| burial_coordinates = {{Coord|47.64328|-122.36626}}
| burial_coordinates = {{Coord|47.64328|-122.36626}}
| alma_mater = [[Bothell High School]]
| alma_mater = [[Bothell High School]]
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'''Jon Brower Minnoch''' (September 29, 1941 – September 4, 1983)<ref name=":9" /> was an American man who was the [[List of the heaviest people|heaviest recorded human]] in history, weighing approximately {{convert|1400|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=on}} at his peak.<ref name="heaviest_man" />{{NoteTag|While Minnoch was the heaviest person in history, [[Robert Earl Hughes]] (1926–1958) holds the record, according to ''[[Guinness World Records]]'', for the largest "precisely measured weight for a human" at 1,069&nbsp;lb (485 kilograms; 76.4 stone).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nickell |first=Joe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jcf40 |title=Secrets of the Sideshows |date=2005 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington |isbn=978-0-8131-2358-5 |page=93 |jstor=j.ctt2jcf40 |author-link=Joe Nickell}}</ref>|name=}} [[Obese]] since childhood, Minnoch normally weighed {{convert|800-900|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in}} during his adult years. He owned a taxi company and worked as a driver around his home in [[Bainbridge Island, Washington]].
'''Jon Brower Minnoch''' (September 29, 1941 – September 4, 1983)<ref name=":9" /> was an American man who is the [[List of the heaviest people|heaviest recorded human]] in history, weighing approximately {{convert|1400|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=on}} at his peak.<ref name="heaviest_man" />{{NoteTag|While Minnoch was the heaviest person in history, [[Robert Earl Hughes]] (1926–1958) holds the record, according to ''[[Guinness World Records]]'', for the largest "precisely measured weight for a human" at 1,069&nbsp;lb (485 kilograms; 76.4 stone).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nickell |first=Joe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jcf40 |title=Secrets of the Sideshows |date=2005 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington |isbn=978-0-8131-2358-5 |page=93 |jstor=j.ctt2jcf40 |author-link=Joe Nickell}}</ref>|name=}} [[Obese]] since childhood, Minnoch normally weighed {{convert|800-900|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in}} during his adult years. He owned a [[Water taxi|taxi]] company and worked as a driver around his home in [[Bainbridge Island, Washington]].


In an attempt to lose weight, Minnoch went on a vegetable-only diet under a doctor's orders. As a result, Minnoch was bedridden for about three weeks before finally agreeing to go to a hospital in March 1978. It took over a dozen firefighters to transport him to the [[University of Washington Medical Center]] in [[Seattle]]. Doctors diagnosed Minnoch with a massive [[edema]], and an [[endocrinologist]] estimated his size to be approximately {{convert|1400|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in}}. His physicians placed him on a {{convert|1200|kcal|kJ|abbr=on|lk=on}} per day diet where, after around two years in the hospital, he lost over {{convert|900|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}—the largest documented human weight loss at the time.{{NoteTag|1=This record was surpassed by Saudi Arabian man [[Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari]] who lost {{convert|1203|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}} after starting his weight loss journey in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 28, 2021 |title=World's heaviest teen, Khaled Mohsen Al Shaeri, reveals dramatic weight loss |work=[[New Zealand Herald]] |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/worlds-heaviest-teen-khaled-mohsen-al-shaeri-reveals-dramatic-weight-loss/XBJ67MXZM2QCSSY3QYHVSTYBTM/ |access-date=June 29, 2023}}</ref>}} After leaving the hospital, Minnoch regained much of the weight and died in September 1983, weighing nearly {{convert|800|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}} at his death. Minnoch's casket took up two burial spots at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle.
In an attempt to lose weight, Minnoch went on a {{convert|600|kcal|kJ|abbr=on|lk=on}} per day diet under a doctor's orders. As a result, Minnoch was bedridden for about three weeks before finally agreeing to go to a hospital in March 1978. It took over a dozen firefighters to transport him to the [[University of Washington Medical Center]] in [[Seattle]]. Doctors diagnosed Minnoch with a massive [[edema]], and an [[endocrinologist]] estimated his weight to be approximately {{convert|1400|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in}}. His physicians placed him on a {{convert|1200|kcal|kJ|abbr=on|lk=off}} per day diet where, after around two years in the hospital, he lost over {{convert|900|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}—the largest documented human weight loss at the time.{{NoteTag|1=This record was surpassed by the Saudi Arabian man [[Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari]], who lost {{convert|1203|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}} between 2014 and 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 28, 2021 |title=World's heaviest teen, Khaled Mohsen Al Shaeri, reveals dramatic weight loss |work=[[New Zealand Herald]] |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/worlds-heaviest-teen-khaled-mohsen-al-shaeri-reveals-dramatic-weight-loss/XBJ67MXZM2QCSSY3QYHVSTYBTM/ |access-date=June 29, 2023}}</ref>}} After leaving the hospital, Minnoch regained much of the weight and died in September 1983, weighing nearly {{convert|800|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}} at his death. Minnoch's casket took up two burial spots at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle.


== Life ==
== Life ==
[[File:Jon Minnoch (infant).jpg|left|thumb|158x158px|Minnoch as an infant with his parents.]]
[[File:Jon Minnoch (infant).jpg|left|thumb|158x158px|Minnoch as an infant with his parents]]


=== Early and personal life ===
=== Early and personal life ===
Minnoch was born in 1941 in Seattle, Washington<ref name=":10" /> to John Minnoch and June ({{nee}} Brower).<ref name=":7" /> When Minnoch was an infant, his parents moved from Seattle to an apartment at a [[Bellingham, Washington|Bellingham]] hotel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 4, 1941 |title=Social and Personal |pages=6 |work=[[The Bellingham Herald]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was an only child.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=February 19, 1986 |title=Obituaries |page=6 |work=[[Kitsap Sun]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Minnoch's father worked as a [[machinist]] and died of a [[heart attack]] in 1962.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 11, 1962 |title=Obituaries |volume=75 |page=36 |work=[[Ogden Standard Examiner]] |issue=314 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> Minnoch's mother was a graduate of [[Seattle Pacific University]] and worked as a [[registered nurse]] at [[Providence Health & Services|Providence Hospital]] and later as a [[Switchboard operator|telephone operator]]. June died in 1986, three years after her son's death in 1983.<ref name=":8" /> Minnoch's grandfather, Peter, was born in [[Scotland]] and emigrated to [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden City, Utah]] in 1876 with the [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter-Day Saints movement]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 7, 1905 |title=Death Claims Peter Minnoch |pages=17 |work=[[Deseret News]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ho0zAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=%22peter+minnoch%22&article_id=5910,2155931&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR7s3-z-T_AhUIJEQIHWBwDRsQ6AF6BAgGEAI#v=onepage&q=%22peter%20minnoch%22&f=false |access-date=June 27, 2023 |issn=0745-4724}}</ref> [[File:Jon Brower Minnoch High School yearbook (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|186x186px|Minnoch in [[Bothell High School]]'s 1958 senior yearbook.]]
Minnoch was born in 1941 in Seattle, Washington,<ref name=":10" /> to John Minnoch and June ({{nee}} Brower).<ref name=":7" /> He [[Birth weight|weighed]] approximately {{convert|7|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}} at birth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lutwyche |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Lutwyche |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBSLDwAAQBAJ |title=The Pig: A Natural History |date=2019-10-01 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-19533-9 |page=97 |language=en}}</ref> When Minnoch was an infant, his parents moved from Seattle to an apartment at a [[Bellingham, Washington|Bellingham]] hotel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 4, 1941 |title=Social and Personal |pages=6 |work=[[The Bellingham Herald]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was an only child.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=February 19, 1986 |title=Obituaries |page=6 |work=[[Kitsap Sun]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Minnoch's father worked as a [[machinist]] and died of a [[heart attack]] in 1962.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 11, 1962 |title=Obituaries |volume=75 |page=36 |work=[[Ogden Standard Examiner]] |issue=314 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> Minnoch's mother was a graduate of [[Seattle Pacific University]] and worked as a [[registered nurse]] at [[Providence Health & Services|Providence Hospital]] and later as a [[Switchboard operator|telephone operator]]. June died in 1986, three years after her son.<ref name=":8" /> Minnoch's grandfather, Peter, was born in [[Scotland]] and emigrated to [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden City, Utah]], in 1876 with the [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter-Day Saints movement]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 7, 1905 |title=Death Claims Peter Minnoch |pages=17 |work=[[Deseret News]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ho0zAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22peter+minnoch%22&pg=PA5&article_id=5910,2155931 |access-date=June 27, 2023 |issn=0745-4724}}</ref> [[File:Jon Brower Minnoch High School yearbook (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|186x186px|Minnoch in [[Bothell High School]]'s 1958 senior yearbook]]


Minnoch suffered from [[obesity]] since childhood.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allardyce |first=Claire S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGsoDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Fat Chemistry: The Science behind Obesity |date= |publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-78262-581-0 |location=Cambridge, UK |language=en |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> At the age of 12, he weighed {{convert|294|lb|kg st|abbr=in}}. By age 22, he weighed {{convert|392|lb|kg st|abbr=in}} and became {{convert|700|lb|kg st|abbr=in}} in 1963.<ref name=":0" /> Minnoch usually weighed {{convert|800-900|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=on}}<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=William Clifford |author-link=William Clifford Roberts |date=1991 |title=Human records and a tribute to the Guinness Book of World Records |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/000291499190770L |journal=[[The American Journal of Cardiology]] |language=en |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=288 |doi=10.1016/0002-9149(91)90770-L |issn=0002-9149 |lccn=58041185 |oclc=00850121 |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> and stood {{Convert|6|ft|1|in|abbr=on}} in height.<ref name=":4" /> He had a [[body fat percentage]] of about 80%.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Evelyn B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHlUDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Obesity |date=2018-04-19 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-4408-5882-6 |edition=2nd |series=Health and Medical Issues Today |location=Santa Barbara, CA |page=29 |language=en |lccn=2017056693}}</ref> Minnoch said [[Water retention (medicine)|water retention]] was the primary cause of his obesity.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=January 19, 1979 |title=Bainbridge Island man down to 540 and losing |pages=14 |work=[[Ellensburg Daily Record]] |agency=[[UPI]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoJUAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=%22John+minnoch%22&article_id=6473,1211318&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiO39GDu7__AhXUh-4BHfI-CccQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=%22John%20minnoch%22&f=false |issn=2834-1872 |oclc=17308766}}</ref> British obesity specialist [[David Haslam (GP)|David Haslam]] asserts Minnoch's water retention was a consequence of his severe weight, not the cause of it.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Haslam |first=David W. |url=https://archive.org/details/fatgluttonysloth0000hasl/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22minnoch%22 |title=Fat, Gluttony and Sloth: Obesity in Medicine, Art and Literature |last2=Haslam |first2=Fiona |date=2009 |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |isbn=978-1-84631-093-5 |location= |pages=33-36 |oclc=1301962332 |author-link=David Haslam (GP)}}</ref>
Minnoch suffered from [[obesity]] since childhood.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allardyce |first=Claire S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGsoDwAAQBAJ |title=Fat Chemistry: The Science behind Obesity |publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-78262-581-0 |location=Cambridge, UK |language=en |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> At the age of 12, he weighed {{convert|294|lb|kg st|abbr=in}}. By age 22, he weighed {{convert|392|lb|kg st|abbr=in}} and became {{convert|700|lb|kg st|abbr=in}} in 1963.<ref name=":0" /> Minnoch usually weighed {{convert|800-900|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=on}}<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=William Clifford |author-link=William Clifford Roberts |date=1991 |title=Human records and a tribute to the Guinness Book of World Records |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/000291499190770L |journal=[[The American Journal of Cardiology]] |language=en |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=288–289 |doi=10.1016/0002-9149(91)90770-L |pmid=2063805 |issn=0002-9149 |lccn=58041185 |oclc=00850121 |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> and stood {{Convert|6|ft|1|in|abbr=on}} in height.<ref name=":4" /> He had a [[body fat percentage]] of about 80%.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Evelyn B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHlUDwAAQBAJ |title=Obesity |date=April 19, 2018 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-4408-5882-6 |edition=2nd |series=Health and Medical Issues Today |location=Santa Barbara, CA |page=29 |language=en |lccn=2017056693}}</ref> Minnoch said [[Water retention (medicine)|water retention]] was the primary cause of his obesity.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=January 19, 1979 |title=Bainbridge Island man down to 540 and losing |pages=14 |work=[[Ellensburg Daily Record]] |agency=[[UPI]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoJUAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22John+minnoch%22&pg=PA1&article_id=6473,1211318 |issn=2834-1872 |oclc=17308766}}</ref> British obesity specialist [[David Haslam (GP)|David Haslam]] contends Minnoch's water retention was a consequence of his severe weight, not the cause of it.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last1=Haslam |first1=David W. |url=https://archive.org/details/fatgluttonysloth0000hasl/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22minnoch%22 |title=Fat, Gluttony and Sloth: Obesity in Medicine, Art and Literature |last2=Haslam |first2=Fiona |date=2009 |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |isbn=978-1-84631-093-5 |location= |pages=33–36 |oclc=1301962332 |author-link=David Haslam (GP)}}</ref>

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Despite his condition, Minnoch tried to live a conventional life<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Fahy |first=Thomas |date=April 2017 |title=Disturbing Appetites: Food, Fatness, and 1980s American Culture in Stephen King's Thinner |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12509 |journal=[[The Journal of Popular Culture]] |language=en |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=312 |doi=10.1111/jpcu.12509 |issn=0022-3840 |lccn=sf80000702 |oclc=1754751 |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> and stated that he was "in no way [[handicapped]]".<ref name=":11" /> He attended [[Bothell High School]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Jon_Minnoch&event=_washington-usa_50&name_x=1_1&successSource=Search&queryId=ccf72fabdd8624b6f50466e4f1df6784 |title=The Cougar |publisher=[[Bothell High School|Bothell Senior High School]] |year=1958 |page=68 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Ancestry.com]]}}</ref> and drove [[Water taxi|water taxis]] for 17 years.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Larry |date=July 7, 1979 |title=900 pounds down, 265 to go |pages=3 |work=[[Wisconsin State Journal]] |agency=[[UPI]] |location= |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-jul-07-1979-3906365/ |access-date=May 30, 2023 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> He married his wife, Jean McArdle, in 1963.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Kitsap County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1860-2014 - Jon Brower Minnoch - Carolyn Jean Mcardle |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/2E8D75881804E8F0D735985BF4BFBA75 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=[[Washington State Digital Archives]]}}</ref> The couple operated the Bainbridge Island Taxi Co. together,<ref name="Island Review" /> the only taxi cab on the island at the time.<ref name=":11" /> According to a friend, Minnoch had a reputation as a "warm and funny family man" on the island.<ref name=":11" /> In March 1978, Minnoch weighed 12 times his {{convert|110|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}} wife,<ref name=":12" /> breaking the record for the greatest weight disparity between a married couple.<ref>{{Cite web |date= March 1978|title=Greatest weight differential - married couple |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/71291-greatest-weight-differential-married-couple |access-date=May 27, 2023 |website=[[Guinness World Records]] |publisher=[[Jim Pattison Group]] |language=en-gb}}</ref> Minnoch and McArdle divorced in 1980<ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of Health, Divorce Certificates, 1968-1998 - Minnoch - Jon - B - Et Al. |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/6D441D1AEBF945ED59325B0498C4D765 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=[[Washington State Digital Archives]]}}</ref> and he married Shirley Ann Griffen in 1982.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Department of Health, Marriage Certificates, 1968-1998 - Jon - B - Minnoch - Et Al. |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/3F30535E0B3B4980C885770E81579B66 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=[[Washington State Digital Archives]]}}</ref> He fathered two sons,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKSHvbY5howC |title=Guinness Book of World Records: 1990 |date=1989 |publisher=[[Sterling Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8069-5790-6 |editor-last=McFarlan |editor-first=Donald |page=12 |language=en}}</ref> John and Jason.<ref name="Island Review" />


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Despite his condition, Minnoch tried to live a conventional life<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Fahy |first=Thomas |date=April 2017 |title=Disturbing Appetites: Food, Fatness, and 1980s American Culture in Stephen King's Thinner |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12509 |journal=[[The Journal of Popular Culture]] |language=en |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=312 |doi=10.1111/jpcu.12509 |issn=0022-3840 |lccn=sf80000702 |oclc=1754751 |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> and stated that he was "in no way [[handicapped]]".<ref name=":11" /> He attend [[Bothell High School]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www-ancestryinstitution-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/discoveryui-content/view/1489074460:1265?_phcmd=u(%27https://www-ancestryinstitution-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/search/?name=Jon_Minnoch&event=_washington-usa_50&name_x=1_1&successSource=Search&queryId=ccf72fabdd8624b6f50466e4f1df6784%27,%27successSource%27) |title=The Cougar |publisher=[[Bothell High School|Bothell Senior High School]] |year=1958 |page=68 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Ancestry.com]]}}</ref> and drove [[taxi]] cabs for 17 years.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Larry |date=July 7, 1979 |title=900 pounds down, 265 to go |pages=3 |work=[[Wisconsin State Journal]] |agency=[[UPI]] |location= |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-jul-07-1979-3906365/ |access-date=May 30, 2023 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> He married his wife, Jean McArdle, in 1963.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Kitsap County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1860-2014 - Jon Brower Minnoch - Carolyn Jean Mcardle |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/2E8D75881804E8F0D735985BF4BFBA75 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=[[Washington State Digital Archives]]}}</ref> The couple operated the Bainbridge Island Taxi Co. together,<ref name="Island Review" /> the only taxi cab on the island at the time.<ref name=":11" /> According to a friend, Minnoch had a reputation as a "warm and funny family man" on the island.<ref name=":11" /> In March 1978, Minnoch weighed 12 times his {{convert|110|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}} wife,<ref name=":12" /> breaking the record for the greatest weight disparity between a married couple.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Greatest weight differential - married couple |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/71291-greatest-weight-differential-married-couple |access-date=May 27, 2023 |website=[[Guinness World Records]] |publisher=[[Jim Pattison Group]] |language=en-gb}}</ref> Minnoch and McArdle divorced in 1980<ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of Health, Divorce Certificates, 1968-1998 - Minnoch - Jon - B - Et Al. |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/6D441D1AEBF945ED59325B0498C4D765 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=[[Washington State Digital Archives]]}}</ref> and he remarried Shirley Ann Griffen in 1982.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Department of Health, Marriage Certificates, 1968-1998 - Jon - B - Minnoch - Et Al. |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/3F30535E0B3B4980C885770E81579B66 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |website=[[Washington State Digital Archives]]}}</ref> He fathered two sons,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKSHvbY5howC&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Guinness Book of World Records: 1990 |date=1989 |publisher=[[Sterling Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8069-5790-6 |editor-last=McFarlan |editor-first=Donald |page=12 |language=en}}</ref> John and Jason.<ref name="Island Review" />
=== Hospitalizations and death ===
=== Hospitalizations and death ===


Minnoch eventually "got so tired" of being heavy that he decided to cut his food intake to "almost nothing".<ref name=":1" /> Under a doctor's [[Medical prescription|prescription]], he went on a [[Very-low-calorie diet|600-calorie-a-day diet]] of only vegetables.<ref name=":6" /> He also took large doses of a [[diuretic]] that failed to eliminate excess fluid in his body.<ref name=":5" /> After about three weeks of weakness and being [[bedridden]], he listened to his wife's pleas to enter a hospital.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=March 30, 1978 |title=900-lb. man hospitalized |pages=6 |work=[[Madison Capital Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-mar-30-1978-3906584/ |access-date=May 30, 2023 |oclc=7351334 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> Minnoch was admitted to the [[University of Washington Medical Center]] in [[Seattle]] in March 1978, suffering from [[congestive cardiac failure|heart]] and [[respiratory failure]].<ref name=":0" /> Firefighters were forced to remove a window at his home and place him on a thick piece of [[plywood]].<ref name=":1" /> It took over a dozen firemen, rescue personnel, and a specially modified [[stretcher]] to transport him to the hospital. There, he was placed on two beds pushed together, and it took thirteen attendants to roll him over.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Minnoch tombstone.jpg|thumb|230x230px|Minnoch's tombstone. His [[epitaph]] reads: "Beloved Husband, Father and Friend".]]
Minnoch eventually "got so tired" of being heavy that he decided to cut his food intake to "almost nothing".<ref name=":1" /> Under a doctor's [[Medical prescription|prescription]], he went on a [[Very-low-calorie diet|600-calorie-a-day diet]] of only vegetables.<ref name=":6" /> He also took large doses of a [[diuretic]] that failed to eliminate excess fluid in his body.<ref name=":5" /> After about three weeks of weakness and being [[bedridden]], he listened to his wife's pleas to enter a hospital.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=March 30, 1978 |title=900-lb. man hospitalized |pages=6 |work=[[Madison Capital Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-mar-30-1978-3906584/ |access-date=May 30, 2023 |oclc=7351334 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> Minnoch was admitted to the [[University of Washington Medical Center]] in [[Seattle]] in March 1978, suffering from [[congestive cardiac failure|heart]] and [[respiratory failure]].<ref name=":0" /> Firefighters were forced to remove a window at his home and place him on a thick piece of [[plywood]].<ref name=":1" /> Minnoch was unable to move or speak.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/1980britannicabo00daum/mode/2up |title=Britannica Book of the Year |publisher=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |year=1980 |editor-last=Daume |editor-first=Daphne |location=Chicago |page=53 |isbn=9780852293720 |issn=0068-1156 |lccn=38-12082 |editor-last2=Davis |editor-first2=J.E.}}</ref> It took over a dozen firemen, rescue personnel, and a specially modified [[stretcher]] to transport him to the hospital. There, he was placed on two beds pushed together, and it took thirteen attendants to roll him over.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Minnoch tombstone.jpg|thumb|230x230px|Minnoch's tombstone. His [[epitaph]] reads: "Beloved Husband, Father and Friend".]]


At the hospital, Minnoch was diagnosed with a massive edema, a condition in which the body accumulates excess [[extracellular fluid]]. Due to his poor health, measuring his weight with a scale was impossible.<ref name=":0" /> However, [[endocrinologist]] Robert Schwartz estimated his weight to be about {{convert|1400|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}}.<ref name=":1" /> According to Schwartz, he was "probably more than that. He was by at least 300 pounds the heaviest person ever reported", and "probably the most unusual thing about [Minnoch's] case was the fact that he lived".<ref name=":1" /> He reached a peak [[body mass index]] (BMI) of 186 kg/m<sup>2</sup><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Baker |first=Rose |author-link=Rose Baker |date=June 2010 |title=The Problem of Obesity: can Mathematics help? |url=https://cdn.ima.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MT_2010_The_Problem_of_Obesity.pdf |journal=Mathematics Today |publisher=[[Institute of Mathematics and its Applications]] |volume=46 |page=141 |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> and spent several days on a [[Ventilator|respirator]].<ref name=":5" /> In April 1978, his doctors described his [[medical state]] as "critical". Schwartz said Minnoch displayed symptoms of [[Obesity hypoventilation syndrome|pickwickian syndrome]], where insufficient breathing causes one's level of [[carbon dioxide]] in the [[bloodstream]] to rise.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 5, 1978 |title=900 Pound Man Said Critical |pages=9 |work=[[Gettysburg Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-apr-05-1978-3906356/ |access-date=May 30, 2023 |oclc=12443209 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref>
At the hospital, Minnoch was diagnosed with a massive edema, a condition in which the body accumulates excess [[extracellular fluid]]. Due to his poor health, measuring his weight with a scale was impossible.<ref name=":0" /> However, [[endocrinologist]] Robert Schwartz estimated his weight to be about {{convert|1400|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}}.<ref name=":1" /> According to Schwartz, he was "probably more than that. He was by at least 300 pounds the heaviest person ever reported", and "probably the most unusual thing about [Minnoch's] case was that he lived".<ref name=":1" /> He reached a peak [[body mass index]] (BMI) of 186&nbsp;kg/m<sup>2</sup><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Baker |first=Rose |author-link=Rose Baker |date=June 2010 |title=The Problem of Obesity: can Mathematics help? |url=https://cdn.ima.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MT_2010_The_Problem_of_Obesity.pdf |journal=Mathematics Today |publisher=[[Institute of Mathematics and its Applications]] |volume=46 |page=141 |access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> and spent several days on a [[Ventilator|respirator]].<ref name=":5" /> In April 1978, his doctors described his [[medical state]] as "critical". Schwartz said Minnoch displayed symptoms of [[Obesity hypoventilation syndrome|Pickwickian syndrome]], where insufficient breathing causes one's level of [[carbon dioxide]] in the [[bloodstream]] to rise.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 5, 1978 |title=900 Pound Man Said Critical |pages=9 |work=[[Gettysburg Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-apr-05-1978-3906356/ |access-date=May 30, 2023 |oclc=12443209 |via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref>


Minnoch remained in the hospital for two years and was put on a diet of {{convert|1200|kcal|kJ|abbr=on|lk=on}} per day. When discharged from the hospital, he weighed {{convert|476|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}, having lost {{convert|924|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}, the largest human weight loss ever documented at the time.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=McDermott |first=Michael T. |title=Interesting endocrine facts and figures |date=2013 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9781455749751000711 |work=Endocrine Secrets |pages=521 |access-date=May 23, 2023 |edition=6 |place=Philadelphia |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-1-4557-4975-1.00071-1 |isbn=978-1-4557-4975-1}}</ref> He hoped to eventually reach a weight of about {{convert|210|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}}, stating, "I've waited 37 years to get this chance at a new life".<ref name=":1" /> Despite this, he soon started to gain weight again.<ref name=":0" /> He was readmitted to the hospital just over a year later in October 1981,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date= |title=Heaviest man ever |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-man/ |access-date=May 28, 2023 |website=[[Guinness World Records]] |publisher=[[Jim Pattison Group]] |language=en-gb}}</ref> after his weight increased to {{convert|952|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}};<ref name=":0" /> he managed to gain {{convert|200|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}} in just seven days.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1990 |title=World Records |pages=400 |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-world-records/125491726/ |url-status= |access-date=May 30, 2023 |issn=0743-1791 |oclc=66652431 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He died 23 months later on September 4, 1983, aged 41.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1983 |title=Deaths |page=13A |work=[[Evening Independent]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52ZQAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=%22jon+minnoch%22+two+sons&article_id=7092,79785&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwmsOi7-b_AhXGPUQIHVKoDO8Q6AF6BAgIEAI#v=onepage&q=%22jon%20minnoch%22%20two%20sons&f=false |access-date=June 28, 2023 |oclc=2720408}}</ref> At the time of his death, he weighed {{convert|798|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name=":0" /> According to his [[death certificate]], Minnoch's immediate [[cause of death]] was [[cardiac arrest]], with respiratory failure and [[restrictive lung disease]] acting as contributing factors.<ref name=":9">{{Cite |title=Certificate of Death |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/DigitalObject/Download/e91486d8-3997-43dd-a2b1-b4c3e6cfa3f7 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |publisher=[[Washington State Department of Social and Health Services]]}}</ref> He was buried in a wooden casket made of plywood {{convert|3/4|in|mm|round=5}} thick and lined with cloth. The coffin took up two cemetery plots, and around 11 men were needed to transport his casket to his burial place at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1983 |title=800-pound man buried |pages=A4 |work=[[The Desert Sun]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |location=Palm Springs |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19830916.2.33&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=May 30, 2023 |oclc=26432381 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref>
Minnoch remained in the hospital for two years and was put on a diet of {{convert|1200|kcal|kJ|abbr=on|lk=on}} per day. When discharged from the hospital, he weighed {{convert|476|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}, having lost {{convert|924|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}, the largest human weight loss ever documented at the time.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=McDermott |first=Michael T. |title=Interesting endocrine facts and figures |date=2013 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9781455749751000711 |work=Endocrine Secrets |pages=521–524 |access-date=May 23, 2023 |edition=6 |place=Philadelphia |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-1-4557-4975-1.00071-1 |isbn=978-1-4557-4975-1}}</ref> He hoped to eventually reach a weight of about {{convert|210|lb|kg st|0|abbr=in|lk=off}}, stating, "I've waited 37 years to get this chance at a new life".<ref name=":1" /> Despite this, he soon started to gain weight again.<ref name=":0" /> He was readmitted to the hospital just over a year later in October 1981,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date= March 1978|title=Heaviest man ever |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-man/ |access-date=May 28, 2023 |website=[[Guinness World Records]] |publisher=[[Jim Pattison Group]] |language=en-gb}}</ref> after his weight increased to {{convert|952|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}};<ref name=":0" /> he had managed to gain {{convert|200|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}} in just seven days.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1990 |title=World Records |pages=400 |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-world-records/125491726/ |url-status= |access-date=May 30, 2023 |issn=0743-1791 |oclc=66652431 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He died 23 months later on September 4, 1983, aged 41.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1983 |title=Deaths |page=13A |work=[[Evening Independent]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52ZQAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9 |access-date=June 28, 2023 |oclc=2720408}}</ref> At the time of his death, he weighed {{convert|798|lb|kg st|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name=":0" /> According to his [[death certificate]], Minnoch's immediate [[cause of death]] was [[cardiac arrest]], with respiratory failure and [[restrictive lung disease]] as contributing factors.<ref name=":9">{{Citation |title=Certificate of Death |url=https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/DigitalObject/Download/e91486d8-3997-43dd-a2b1-b4c3e6cfa3f7 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |publisher=[[Washington State Department of Social and Health Services]]}}</ref> He was buried in a wooden casket made of plywood {{convert|3/4|in|mm|round=5}} thick and lined with cloth. The coffin took up two cemetery plots, and around 11 men were needed to transport his casket to his burial place at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1983 |title=800-pound man buried |pages=A4 |work=[[The Desert Sun]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |location=Palm Springs |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19830916.2.33&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=May 30, 2023 |oclc=26432381 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==
Line 61: Line 61:
{{reflist|refs=
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="heaviest_man">Multiple sources:
<ref name="heaviest_man">Multiple sources:
*{{Cite book |last=Newsholme |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L24t58739VIC&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Functional Biochemistry in Health and Disease |last2=Leech |first2=Anthony |date=September 9, 2011 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-119-96524-4 |location=Chichester, UK |language=en |quote=The heaviest person recorded in the Guinness Book of Records was John Brower Minnoch... |author-link=Eric Newsholme |access-date=May 30, 2023}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Newsholme |first1=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L24t58739VIC |title=Functional Biochemistry in Health and Disease |last2=Leech |first2=Anthony |date=September 9, 2011 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-119-96524-4 |location=Chichester, UK |language=en |quote=The heaviest person recorded in the Guinness Book of Records was John Brower Minnoch... |author-link=Eric Newsholme |access-date=May 30, 2023}}
*{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=James D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sX1aDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Lost Souls: Manners and Morals in Contemporary American Society |date=May 11, 2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-01159-4 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781351011617 |edition=1 |location=New York |quote=The heaviest person ever documented was Jon Brower Minnoch, who died in 1983. At his peak, Minnoch stood <nowiki>6'1''</nowiki> tall and weighed about 1400 pounds... |author-link=James D. Wright |access-date=May 30, 2023}}
*{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=James D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sX1aDwAAQBAJ |title=Lost Souls: Manners and Morals in Contemporary American Society |date=May 11, 2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-01159-4 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781351011617 |edition=1 |location=New York |quote=The heaviest person ever documented was Jon Brower Minnoch, who died in 1983. At his peak, Minnoch stood <nowiki>6'1''</nowiki> tall and weighed about 1400 pounds... |author-link=James D. Wright |access-date=May 30, 2023}}
*{{Cite book |last=Hamid |first=Tarek K. A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-0-387-09469-4 |title=Thinking in Circles About Obesity |date=2009 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=978-0-387-09468-7 |location=New York |page=321 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-09469-4 |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The fattest human on record, Jon Minnoch of Bainbridge Island, Washington, weighed an estimated 1400 lb...}}
*{{Cite book |last=Hamid |first=Tarek K. A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-0-387-09469-4 |title=Thinking in Circles About Obesity |date=2009 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=978-0-387-09468-7 |location=New York |page=321 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-09469-4 |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The fattest human on record, Jon Minnoch of Bainbridge Island, Washington, weighed an estimated 1400 lb...}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Olds |first=Tim |date=2015 |title=Superphysiques |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.540732956328695 |journal=[[Australasian Science]] |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=40 |doi=10.3316/ielapa.540732956328695 |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The heaviest person who ever lived, American John Minnoch (1941–83), weighed 635 kg.}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Olds |first=Tim |date=2015 |title=Superphysiques |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.540732956328695 |journal=[[Australasian Science]] |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=40 |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The heaviest person who ever lived, American John Minnoch (1941–83), weighed 635 kg.}}
*{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=David R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oG0oDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=What is Safe?: Risks of Living in a Nuclear Age |date=October 31, 2007 |publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |isbn=978-1-84755-236-5 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=69 |language=en |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The world's heaviest man weighed 100 stone (J.B. Minnoch, 1983, in USA)... |author-link=David R. Williams (scientist)}}
*{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=David R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oG0oDwAAQBAJ |title=What is Safe?: Risks of Living in a Nuclear Age |date=October 31, 2007 |publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |isbn=978-1-84755-236-5 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=69 |language=en |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The world's heaviest man weighed 100 stone (J.B. Minnoch, 1983, in USA)... |author-link=David R. Williams (scientist)}}
*{{Cite book |last=Bondeson |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FK2IDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities |date=2018 |publisher=[[Amberley Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4456-7629-6 |location=Stroud, UK |language=en |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The world's heaviest person, the American Jon Brower Minnoch (1941-1983) weighed in at 100 stone... |author-link=Jan Bondeson}}
*{{Cite book |last=Bondeson |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FK2IDwAAQBAJ |title=The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities |date=2018 |publisher=[[Amberley Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4456-7629-6 |location=Stroud, UK |language=en |access-date=May 30, 2023 |quote=The world's heaviest person, the American Jon Brower Minnoch (1941-1983) weighed in at 100 stone... |author-link=Jan Bondeson}}
</ref>}}
</ref>}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-start}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnoch, Jon Brower}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnoch, Jon Brower}}

[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]

Latest revision as of 20:22, 7 December 2024

Jon Brower Minnoch
Born(1941-09-29)September 29, 1941
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
DiedSeptember 4, 1983(1983-09-04) (aged 41)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Burial placeMount Pleasant Cemetery, King County, Washington
47°38′36″N 122°21′59″W / 47.64328°N 122.36626°W / 47.64328; -122.36626
Alma materBothell High School
OccupationTaxi driver
Known forHeaviest person ever recorded (1,400 lb or 635 kg or 100 st)
Height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Spouses
Carolyn Jean McArdle[a]
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1980)​
Shirley Ann Griffen
​
(m. 1982)​
Children2
Signature
Jon B. Minnoch

Jon Brower Minnoch (September 29, 1941 – September 4, 1983)[2] was an American man who is the heaviest recorded human in history, weighing approximately 1,400 lb (635 kilograms; 100 stone) at his peak.[3][note 1] Obese since childhood, Minnoch normally weighed 800–900 lb (363–408 kilograms; 57–64 stone) during his adult years. He owned a taxi company and worked as a driver around his home in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

In an attempt to lose weight, Minnoch went on a 600 kcal (2,500 kJ) per day diet under a doctor's orders. As a result, Minnoch was bedridden for about three weeks before finally agreeing to go to a hospital in March 1978. It took over a dozen firefighters to transport him to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Doctors diagnosed Minnoch with a massive edema, and an endocrinologist estimated his weight to be approximately 1,400 lb (635 kilograms; 100 stone). His physicians placed him on a 1,200 kcal (5,000 kJ) per day diet where, after around two years in the hospital, he lost over 900 lb (408 kg; 64 st)—the largest documented human weight loss at the time.[note 2] After leaving the hospital, Minnoch regained much of the weight and died in September 1983, weighing nearly 800 lb (363 kg; 57 st) at his death. Minnoch's casket took up two burial spots at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle.

Life

Minnoch as an infant with his parents

Early and personal life

Minnoch was born in 1941 in Seattle, Washington,[6] to John Minnoch and June (née Brower).[7] He weighed approximately 7 lb (3 kg; 1 st) at birth.[8] When Minnoch was an infant, his parents moved from Seattle to an apartment at a Bellingham hotel.[9] He was an only child.[10] Minnoch's father worked as a machinist and died of a heart attack in 1962.[11] Minnoch's mother was a graduate of Seattle Pacific University and worked as a registered nurse at Providence Hospital and later as a telephone operator. June died in 1986, three years after her son.[10] Minnoch's grandfather, Peter, was born in Scotland and emigrated to Ogden City, Utah, in 1876 with the Latter-Day Saints movement.[12]

Minnoch in Bothell High School's 1958 senior yearbook

Minnoch suffered from obesity since childhood.[13] At the age of 12, he weighed 294 lb (133 kilograms; 21.0 stone). By age 22, he weighed 392 lb (178 kilograms; 28.0 stone) and became 700 lb (320 kilograms; 50 stone) in 1963.[14] Minnoch usually weighed 800–900 lb (363–408 kilograms; 57–64 stone)[15] and stood 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) in height.[16] He had a body fat percentage of about 80%.[17] Minnoch said water retention was the primary cause of his obesity.[18] British obesity specialist David Haslam contends Minnoch's water retention was a consequence of his severe weight, not the cause of it.[19]

Despite his condition, Minnoch tried to live a conventional life[14] and stated that he was "in no way handicapped".[19] He attended Bothell High School[20] and drove water taxis for 17 years.[21] He married his wife, Jean McArdle, in 1963.[6] The couple operated the Bainbridge Island Taxi Co. together,[1] the only taxi cab on the island at the time.[19] According to a friend, Minnoch had a reputation as a "warm and funny family man" on the island.[19] In March 1978, Minnoch weighed 12 times his 110 lb (50 kilograms; 8 stone) wife,[15] breaking the record for the greatest weight disparity between a married couple.[22] Minnoch and McArdle divorced in 1980[23] and he married Shirley Ann Griffen in 1982.[7] He fathered two sons,[24] John and Jason.[1]

Hospitalizations and death

Minnoch eventually "got so tired" of being heavy that he decided to cut his food intake to "almost nothing".[21] Under a doctor's prescription, he went on a 600-calorie-a-day diet of only vegetables.[25] He also took large doses of a diuretic that failed to eliminate excess fluid in his body.[18] After about three weeks of weakness and being bedridden, he listened to his wife's pleas to enter a hospital.[25] Minnoch was admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle in March 1978, suffering from heart and respiratory failure.[14] Firefighters were forced to remove a window at his home and place him on a thick piece of plywood.[21] Minnoch was unable to move or speak.[26] It took over a dozen firemen, rescue personnel, and a specially modified stretcher to transport him to the hospital. There, he was placed on two beds pushed together, and it took thirteen attendants to roll him over.[14]

Minnoch's tombstone. His epitaph reads: "Beloved Husband, Father and Friend".

At the hospital, Minnoch was diagnosed with a massive edema, a condition in which the body accumulates excess extracellular fluid. Due to his poor health, measuring his weight with a scale was impossible.[14] However, endocrinologist Robert Schwartz estimated his weight to be about 1,400 lb (635 kilograms; 100 stone).[21] According to Schwartz, he was "probably more than that. He was by at least 300 pounds the heaviest person ever reported", and "probably the most unusual thing about [Minnoch's] case was that he lived".[21] He reached a peak body mass index (BMI) of 186 kg/m2[27] and spent several days on a respirator.[18] In April 1978, his doctors described his medical state as "critical". Schwartz said Minnoch displayed symptoms of Pickwickian syndrome, where insufficient breathing causes one's level of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream to rise.[28]

Minnoch remained in the hospital for two years and was put on a diet of 1,200 kcal (5,000 kJ) per day. When discharged from the hospital, he weighed 476 lb (216 kg; 34 st), having lost 924 lb (419 kg; 66 st), the largest human weight loss ever documented at the time.[16] He hoped to eventually reach a weight of about 210 lb (95 kilograms; 15 stone), stating, "I've waited 37 years to get this chance at a new life".[21] Despite this, he soon started to gain weight again.[14] He was readmitted to the hospital just over a year later in October 1981,[29] after his weight increased to 952 lb (432 kg; 68 st);[14] he had managed to gain 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st) in just seven days.[30] He died 23 months later on September 4, 1983, aged 41.[31] At the time of his death, he weighed 798 lb (362 kg; 57 st).[14] According to his death certificate, Minnoch's immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest, with respiratory failure and restrictive lung disease as contributing factors.[2] He was buried in a wooden casket made of plywood 3⁄4 inch (20 mm) thick and lined with cloth. The coffin took up two cemetery plots, and around 11 men were needed to transport his casket to his burial place at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.[32]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ While Minnoch was the heaviest person in history, Robert Earl Hughes (1926–1958) holds the record, according to Guinness World Records, for the largest "precisely measured weight for a human" at 1,069 lb (485 kilograms; 76.4 stone).[4]
  2. ^ This record was surpassed by the Saudi Arabian man Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, who lost 1,203 lb (546 kilograms; 86 stone) between 2014 and 2021.[5]
  1. ^ McArdle preferred to be called Jean.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Obituaries". Bainbridge Island Review. Vol. 114, no. 47. November 28, 2014. p. A33. ISSN 1053-2889. OCLC 849658486.
  2. ^ a b Certificate of Death, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, retrieved June 3, 2023
  3. ^ Multiple sources:
  4. ^ Nickell, Joe (2005). Secrets of the Sideshows. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-8131-2358-5. JSTOR j.ctt2jcf40.
  5. ^ "World's heaviest teen, Khaled Mohsen Al Shaeri, reveals dramatic weight loss". New Zealand Herald. December 28, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Kitsap County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1860-2014 - Jon Brower Minnoch - Carolyn Jean Mcardle". Washington State Digital Archives. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Department of Health, Marriage Certificates, 1968-1998 - Jon - B - Minnoch - Et Al". Washington State Digital Archives. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  8. ^ Lutwyche, Richard (October 1, 2019). The Pig: A Natural History. Princeton University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-691-19533-9.
  9. ^ "Social and Personal". The Bellingham Herald. December 4, 1941. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b "Obituaries". Kitsap Sun. February 19, 1986. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Obituaries". Ogden Standard Examiner. Vol. 75, no. 314. November 11, 1962. p. 36 – via NewspaperArchive.
  12. ^ "Death Claims Peter Minnoch". Deseret News. September 7, 1905. p. 17. ISSN 0745-4724. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  13. ^ Allardyce, Claire S. (2012). Fat Chemistry: The Science behind Obesity. Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 978-1-78262-581-0. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Fahy, Thomas (April 2017). "Disturbing Appetites: Food, Fatness, and 1980s American Culture in Stephen King's Thinner". The Journal of Popular Culture. 50 (2). Wiley-Blackwell: 312. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12509. ISSN 0022-3840. LCCN sf80000702. OCLC 1754751. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Roberts, William Clifford (1991). "Human records and a tribute to the Guinness Book of World Records". The American Journal of Cardiology. 68 (2). Elsevier: 288–289. doi:10.1016/0002-9149(91)90770-L. ISSN 0002-9149. LCCN 58041185. OCLC 00850121. PMID 2063805. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  16. ^ a b McDermott, Michael T. (2013), "Interesting endocrine facts and figures", Endocrine Secrets (6 ed.), Philadelphia: Elsevier, pp. 521–524, doi:10.1016/b978-1-4557-4975-1.00071-1, ISBN 978-1-4557-4975-1, retrieved May 23, 2023
  17. ^ Kelly, Evelyn B. (April 19, 2018). Obesity. Health and Medical Issues Today (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-4408-5882-6. LCCN 2017056693.
  18. ^ a b c "Bainbridge Island man down to 540 and losing". Ellensburg Daily Record. UPI. January 19, 1979. p. 14. ISSN 2834-1872. OCLC 17308766.
  19. ^ a b c d Haslam, David W.; Haslam, Fiona (2009). Fat, Gluttony and Sloth: Obesity in Medicine, Art and Literature. Liverpool University Press. pp. 33–36. ISBN 978-1-84631-093-5. OCLC 1301962332.
  20. ^ The Cougar. Bothell Senior High School. 1958. p. 68 – via Ancestry.com.
  21. ^ a b c d e f Roberts, Larry (July 7, 1979). "900 pounds down, 265 to go". Wisconsin State Journal. UPI. p. 3. Retrieved May 30, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  22. ^ "Greatest weight differential - married couple". Guinness World Records. Jim Pattison Group. March 1978. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  23. ^ "Department of Health, Divorce Certificates, 1968-1998 - Minnoch - Jon - B - Et Al". Washington State Digital Archives. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  24. ^ McFarlan, Donald, ed. (1989). Guinness Book of World Records: 1990. Sterling Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-8069-5790-6.
  25. ^ a b "900-lb. man hospitalized". Madison Capital Times. Associated Press. March 30, 1978. p. 6. OCLC 7351334. Retrieved May 30, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  26. ^ Daume, Daphne; Davis, J.E., eds. (1980). Britannica Book of the Year. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 53. ISBN 9780852293720. ISSN 0068-1156. LCCN 38-12082.
  27. ^ Baker, Rose (June 2010). "The Problem of Obesity: can Mathematics help?" (PDF). Mathematics Today. 46. Institute of Mathematics and its Applications: 141. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  28. ^ "900 Pound Man Said Critical". Gettysburg Times. Associated Press. April 5, 1978. p. 9. OCLC 12443209. Retrieved May 30, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  29. ^ "Heaviest man ever". Guinness World Records. Jim Pattison Group. March 1978. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  30. ^ "World Records". The Boston Globe. May 6, 1990. p. 400. ISSN 0743-1791. OCLC 66652431. Retrieved May 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "Deaths". Evening Independent. Associated Press. September 16, 1983. p. 13A. OCLC 2720408. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  32. ^ "800-pound man buried". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs. Associated Press. September 16, 1983. pp. A4. OCLC 26432381. Retrieved May 30, 2023 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Preceded by Heaviest person ever recorded
1941–1983 		Succeeded by
None
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