Mel Zuckerman, wellness pioneer and philanthropist, dead at 94

Mel Zuckerman, an early promoter of holistic wellness practices and the namesake of the University of Arizona’s college of public health, died at his home on Saturday, at the age of 94.

“He’s probably directly or indirectly helped most people in Tucson even if they don’t know it,” said Dr. Richard Carmona, who was the 17th U.S. Surgeon General and a longtime friend and colleague. “His legacy is that we have a healthier community (because) a lot of his ideas are the ones that have stuck in helping us be able to live longer, happier, healthier and cheaper.”

Although Zuckerman’s death — and more than $20 million in lifetime donations to the UA’s public health education and programming initiatives — cemented his legacy as a beacon of good public health practices, it took personal struggles earlier on in his life to put him on that path.

Born in 1928 in New Jersey, he lived with childhood asthma and found it difficult to participate in physical activities. But, he excelled in academics and earned a degree in accounting from New York University by the early 1950s. In 1953, Zuckerman married Enid Slotkin and the couple remained in New Jersey until the late 1950s, when they moved out west and eventually settled in Tucson.

At that time Tucson was experiencing a development boom. So Zuckerman abandoned his accounting career for one in real estate development, and started a company called Harmony Homes, which built numerous subdivisions in Tucson in the mid-20th century.

A ‘wake-up call’

On the outside, Zuckerman appeared to have it all: a wife, two children and his own business. But, according to a 2014 article published in the Arizona Daily Star, he was managing his stress with unhealthy habits and struggling to maintain a healthy body weight. At 40 years old, a physician told Zuckerman he had the health of a senior citizen, but that didn’t push him to change his lifestyle immediately.

According to Zuckerman’s writings in Canyon Ranch origin stories, the “true wake-up call” came 10 years later, when Zuckerman’s father, a lifelong smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

“I watched my father hang his head in his hands and say over and over again, ‘if only I had listened to my doctors’ and ‘if only I had done this or that,’” Zuckerman wrote. His father died six months after the diagnosis, but after that Zuckerman made a commitment to his own health. He took a trip out to a wellness retreat in California, and came back with the idea to start his own.

“Enid had been devoted to healthy living for a long time, and she’d suggested some years before that maybe we ought to build a ‘fat farm,’ that there were a lot of them springing up, and that Tucson would be a good place for one,” Zuckerman wrote. “I’d just rolled my eyes and kept on building houses. (In California) her suggestion came back to me, and the idea for Canyon Ranch was born.”

Canyon Ranch

Soon after returning from California, the Zuckermans purchased the Double U Dude Ranch near Sabino Canyon and opened Canyon Ranch in 1979. Since then, the resort’s offerings — which include fitness, nutrition and spiritual guidance from skilled professionals — has evolved into a global health and wellness destination. The Zuckermans, who have a home on the ranch, remained actively involved in shaping their guests’ experiences until they sold the ranch in 2017.

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“He recognized that you have to address mind, body and spirit,” said Carmona, who worked with Zuckerman at Canyon Ranch and now serves as chief of health innovation at the ranch. “Mel’s mindset was that we are not prescriptive to people — we don’t tell them what to do. Instead, we bring them here and we listen to them and what they are trying to achieve in life. … Each person needs a specific plan that involves mind, body and spirit. Mel always was an advocate for that.”

In addition to advancing healthy living, Canyon Ranch was also highly lucrative and put the Zuckerman family in a position to become one of Tucson’s most well-known philanthropists.

Public health legacy

In 1997, the Zuckermans created a $10 million endowment that helped to establish the UA’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health in 2000, making it the first school of its kind in the southwestern United States. Over the past 20 years, the Zuckermans donated at least another $10 million to support the school of public health through numerous scholarships, two endowed chairs and the launch of the Zuckerman Family Center for Prevention and Health Promotion.

Zuckerman also served as a member of the UA Foundation Board of Trustees and the Zuckerman College of Public Health Community Advisory Board, and was awarded an honorary degree from the UA College of Medicine – Tucson in 1998 for his efforts. Outside of the UA, Zuckerman was also an active member of Tucson’s Jewish community, making several donations to local Jewish organizations including Congregation Anshei Israel, Tucson Hebrew Academy and the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

“Mel has been actively engaged, not only through money but by his presence and talks. He engaged with students on every occasion he could,” Iman Hakim, dean of the public health college, said. “After every event he would stick around with the students, asking them questions and encouraging them. … He loved hearing about student accomplishments.”

Hakim, who first met Zuckerman in 2007, described her late friend and colleague as a “kind, humble person,” who was adamant about making the health and wellness practices people paid to learn at Canyon Ranch accessible to more people.

“He was excited to see the school’s work and the (public health) training grow and expand beyond Tucson,” Hakim said. “He wanted people to know that you don’t have to have money to be healthy. He wanted to train the new generation on how to do everything at Canyon Ranch on their own.”

Mel is survived by his wife, Enid; his two children, Amy and Jay (Stephanie); his grandchildren Nicole (Ken), Talia, Colton and Riley; his two great-grandchildren, Chloe and Asher; his sister and brother-in-law Paula and Arthur Molk; his many nieces and nephews; and countless friends.

There will be a public memorial at 4:30 p.m. April 17, at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Innovation Building.

Photos: On the grounds of Tucson's Canyon Ranch