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The first Les Mills gym opened in Auckland in 1968. It later grew into a music-driven global group fitness network spanning over 100 countries.
Mills also remained active as an elite sports coach. He guided discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina to a world title in 1997.
"To the family, we will remember him as a person of immense strength but gentleness, a guy with great humour and quick wit and who loved a joke and a guy who was fun to grow up with," Phillip said.
Former Auckland Council member Juliet Yates, who worked with Mills during his first political term in the 1990s, praised his collaborative leadership.
"He was a very, very pleasant person to work with," she said.
Yates noted that the local government achieved significant progress for the entire region under his leadership.
"He was really good at bringing people together and achieving things for the benefit of the city," she said.
Mills was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1973 and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002.
He was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2022.
"At the time, I think the achievements of the council he was mayor of were benefiting the whole of the city," Yates said.
Les Mills Snr was preceded in death by his wife Colleen in 2005.
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He is survived by his children Phillip and Donna, daughter-in-law Jackie, four grandchildren, and multiple great-grandchildren.
