Einar Méndez, a father of three based in Mexico, was pronounced dead after suffering a medical emergency in Mexico City on Friday, just before he was due to make his first trip to New York, his wife, Yan, said Monday.
“Rest in peace, love of my life. Fly to the highest heights, and I promise we will meet again,” his grieving widow wrote in a tribute shared on his Instagram account.
The internationally known bodybuilder and celebrity fitness coach died after what his widow described as a “sudden heart attack” while he was working out.
“We are all still in shock. He left suddenly, at the gym, doing what he loved most: working out,” she wrote on Instagram.
“He was strong, resilient, kind,” she said in Spanish in a video posted online, according to People. “Everyone who knew him knows exactly who Einar Méndez was.”
Méndez had described himself as a national and international bodybuilding champion, building a reputation in the fitness world far beyond Mexico.
Among his loyal clients was Martha Debayle, the Nicaragua-born television host based in Mexico.
Debayle said Méndez had collapsed, though authorities have not released an official cause of death.
The fitness influencer with nearly 47,000 followers was remembered as a family man and father.
“Before he was a coach, Einar was Yan’s husband, his wife for 30 years, a father to his three daughters. And that’s where today it becomes impossible to measure this loss,” Debayle said.
“To think about Yan and his daughters’ pain, breaks my heart,” she added. “Because no matter how much you try to find an explanation for them, there are things that just don’t have it.”
She also paid tribute to the trainer who helped more than just herself.
“Einar was my coach, but he was also the coach of so many of you in ‘Sumer Body,’ and I know that it meant to so many. I know how much they wanted it, how much he pushed them, how much he made them deny, laugh, strike and discover that they could always be a little more,’ she said.
Debayle revealed Méndez had future plans ready involving trip to the US where he would see the Miami Dolphins, visit New York for the first time and “keep training, scolding and demanding.”
