Jon Brower Minnoch

Jon Brower Minnoch (September 29, 1941 – September 4, 1983) |name= Obese since childhood, Minnoch normally weighed 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 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 . His physicians placed him on a per day diet where, after around two years in the hospital, he lost over —the largest documented human weight loss at the time. After leaving the hospital, Minnoch regained much of the weight and died in September 1983, weighing nearly at his death. Minnoch's casket took up two burial spots at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle.

Life

Early and personal life Minnoch was born in 1941 in Seattle, Washington, When Minnoch was an infant, his parents moved from Seattle to an apartment at a Bellingham hotel. He was an only child. Minnoch's father worked as a machinist and died of a heart attack in 1962. 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. left

Minnoch suffered from obesity since childhood. At the age of 12, he weighed . By age 22, he weighed and became in 1963. and stood in height. Minnoch said water retention was the primary cause of his obesity. British obesity specialist David Haslam contends Minnoch's water retention was a consequence of his severe weight, not the cause of it.

Despite his condition, Minnoch tried to live a conventional life and stated that he was "in no way handicapped". and drove taxi cabs for 17 years. On December 29, 1960, Minnoch committed second-degree burglary. He married his wife, Jean McArdle, in 1963. The couple operated the Bainbridge Island Taxi Co. together, Minnoch and McArdle divorced in 1980 and he married Shirley Ann Griffin in 1982. He fathered two sons, John and Jason. Minnoch was admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle in March 1978, suffering from heart and respiratory failure. 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. and spent several days on a respirator.

Minnoch remained in the hospital for two years and was put on a diet of per day. When discharged from the hospital, he weighed , having lost , the largest human weight loss ever documented at the time. He hoped to eventually reach a weight of about , stating, "I've waited 37 years to get this chance at a new life". after his weight increased to ; He died 23 months later on September 4, 1983, aged 41. At the time of his death, he weighed . He was buried in a wooden casket made of plywood 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.