Peary Rader

Peary Rader, born on October 17, 1909, in Peru, Nebraska, and died on November 24, 1991, was an American early bodybuilder, Olympic lifter, writer and magazine publisher from Nebraska. He grew up near Hemingford in Box Butte County, Nebraska, started lifting weights as a teenager and later shifted his emphasis to heavy, high repetition squats, building his bodyweight up to 210 pounds within about a year and eventually reaching 220 pounds. He was victorious in a number of local and regional weightlifting contests, became proficient at other lifts such as the one-hand clean and at feats of strength, and was the Midwestern Heavyweight Champion for seven years. He was the founding publisher of Iron Man from 1936 to 1986.