Two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, Olympic gold medalist, and multi-million-dollar grilling entrepreneur George Foreman died on March 21, 2025, at the age of 76, according to a statement from his family posted on the former athlete’s Instagram.
Foreman initially gained world renown during his decades-long boxing career, which included matches against Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, and Michael Moorer. Then, in 1994, he quickly re-established himself by endorsing a business selling indoor, countertop grills. In doing so, he pioneered using the power of TV and the cult of celebrity in a pre-Internet world to become a staple of American home cooking in the ‘90s.
Although he didn’t formally invent the tool, Foreman’s involvement with the product’s advertisement and marketing played a defining role in making home cooking more accessible to Americans who felt excluded from culinary culture in the 1990s. Since then, the literal and figurative significance of the George Foreman grill has been hard to estimate—or overstate. (In 2000, CNN Money projected that 12 to 15 percent of American homes in the ‘90s had a George Foreman grill.)
Nonetheless, the compact appliance has served as a symbol, or a reminder, that anyone at any age can cook. His motivational and inspirational remarks extended beyond offhand conversations to engage skeptical seniors, weight-loss-obsessed calorie counters, and high school classmates who might otherwise give up on whatever challenges they face in the kitchen, the gym, or elsewhere. His combination of boundless positivity, dazzling charisma, and a painfully corny-yet-effective catchphrase led to numerous other product endorsements and moments in the spotlight of American pop culture. Over time, these television appearances secured the boxer’s role as a complicated source of nostalgia and culinary aspiration.
Still, Foreman’s legacy was cemented as a prominent success story of the ‘90s and early aughts after the business sold its 20 millionth George Foreman indoor grill in 2000. Over time, though, his career became a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of celebrity influencers and audience disinterest in what they perceive to be over-endorsement.
Following the announcement, the family has requested privacy and time as they process the passing of “an extraordinary man we were blessed to call our own,” the post reads.
