Jean Nidetch (born 1927) was an overweight homemaker and mother who became a slim, successful businessperson by co-founding Weight Watchers International. Through her personal struggle to lose weight, Nidetch developed a program that worked for her and millions of other people around the world. As she described it in her autobiography, "Weight Watchers does not simply give you a method of losing weight. What it is, is a new way of life."

Jean (Slutsky) Nidetch was born on October 12, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, David Slutsky, was a cab driver and her mother, Mae (Rodin) Slutsky, was a manicurist. Nidetch graduated from Girls High School in Brooklyn and received a partial scholarship to Long Island University. However, she could not accept the scholarship because the family did not have the rest of the money for tuition. Instead, Nidetch took a business administration course at City College of New...