James A. Corea
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James A. Corea (April 23, 1938 – March 3, 2001) , Ph.D., Dr. Science, ND, RPT was a radio personality and specialist in nutrition, rehabilitation, and sports medicine. He founded Vita-Labs a brand of health food supplement. He died of a heart attack at age 63. He was married to Barbara L Caputi in about 1963 and had a daughter Michelle L.
[edit] Early life
He was born in Camden, NJ, and was a graduate of Camden Catholic High School. He spent his early years as an Olympic powerlifting and entering bodybuilding competitions. He was a former Mr. Camden County, a body building title.
He founded a supplement company (Vita-Labs) of Cherry Hill, NJ in 1958. In the ’60s, Corea was a strength coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for a decade. In 1958, he opened the Jim Correa Gym and Athletic Club in Cherry Hill, NJ. It was the first of its kind, a full-service gym which was frequented by many local sport legends in the area. He also operated a gym and physical rehabilitation facility, conducted police academy fitness training and hosted a top-rated radio show on Philly’s WWDB. Dr. Jim's show ran on WWDB for over 20 years, and was Philadelphia radio icon during his career. In addition, he was a professor at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and one of the most popular naturopathic physicians in the Northeast.
He lost his radio slot in November 2000 along with all the talk presenters when the station changed its format from Talk to Music. He had been offered a new radio job, which he was due to start in 2001.
Dr James A Correa, "James A" for short, had a set of idiosyncrasies. He’d never drank alcohol in his life, not even a glass of champagne at his wedding. He was proud of his “wheels,” wearing shorts every day of the year, even in sub-zero weather. He never took vacations, rose at 4:30 every morning and lifted for several hours, then ran a few miles. He always ate “like a champ” and supplemented with a vast array of vitamins and natural supplements.
[edit] Controversy about his death
As a notable fitness expert, who advocated and lived the "perfect" diet and exercise regime, it was considered in the press to be a difficult message that he would die of heart disease at the relatively young age of 63. Initially, his family withheld the cause of death. There was speculation that it was suicide. His death was compared to that of Jim Fixx. However, like Fixx, his family had a history of heart disease, and it is possible that his lifestyle added many years to his life..
The self-proclaimed "Love Doctor" also used to refer to himself as "The man, the myth, the legend".
