Gold's Gym Owner Among Missing, Feared Dead After Plane Crash

Published|Updated

Rainer Schaller — the German owner of Gold's Gym — is missing and feared dead after a plane he and several other passengers were travelling in vanished.

According to TMZ, the plane was carrying five passengers plus a pilot when it left Mexico on Friday. All of the passengers were German and included Schaller, his partner Christiane Schikorsky, their children, and a fitness instructor. The plane's pilot was reportedly a Swiss citizen.

Air Traffic Control lost contact with the private, twin-engine turboprop aircraft near Barra del Parismina in the Caribbean Sea.

Since then the Costa Rican Coast Guard has reportedly found two bodies, as well as what they believe to be pieces of the plane and personal effects. The identities of the recovered bodies has not yet been confirmed.

The owner of Gold's Gym Rainer Schaller is feared dead after a plane carrying him and his family crashed near Costa Rica.

Gernan businessman Rainer Schaller poses in one of his companies gyms. His RSG Group owns several gym chains worldwide. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) (Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images)

Schaller isn't the founder of Gold's Gym, but he is the founder and CEO of the RSG Group which owns several gym chains around the world.

Gold's Gym was a somewhat recent acquisition. Schaller's company brought the brand after its previous owners filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic.

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.