Physical Fitness Pioneer. He gained fame as a German-born American physical fitness pioneer who created and promoted the Pilates method of exercising. He was also an author and inventor. Born into a health-conscious family, his father was an award-winning gymnast, and his mother practiced naturopathy, yet he was considered a sickly child with asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. At age five, he was blinded in his left eye by a thrown stone. He proved the strength to overcome these limitations. As a young man in his native Germany, he was a gymnast and bodybuilder. After moving to England in 1912, he worked as a professional boxer, circus performer, and self-defense trainer for Scotland Yard policemen. While in a forced internment camp in Lancaster as "the enemy" of England during World War I, Pilates developed his 34-exercise regimen, which he called "Contrology," by combining stretching movements inspired by cats and yoga. He promoted a successful exercise program for other German citizens who interned with him. After the war, he returned to his homeland of Germany. In October of 1925, he made his first trip to New York City but returned to Germany. On the ship to New York on the second trip in 1926, he met his wife, Clara, who later became a business colleague. Inspired by the sculptured bodies of ancient Greece, he pulled theories from Eastern practices and Zen Buddhism for his exercise régime. He wrote two books, but his most famous in 1934 was the 64-page "Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising that Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education." The second book was the 84-page book, "Return to Life Through Contrology," in 1945. He patented 26 pieces of exercise equipment. Although he was known to smoke tobacco and drink alcohol, he maintained his fit physique and kept himself in remarkable physical condition in his elder years. He founded an exercise studio in New York City and directly taught and supervised students from 1926 to 1966, and his wife, who is described as a superb teacher, continued the business for another ten years after his death. Many well-known ballet dancers adhere to his exercises as well as host of wealthy clientele. By the 21st century, his exercises had developed into a multi-million-dollar business for his Pilates Elders and other followers, who continued his exercise régime.