Ardath Rodale, Health Publishing Matriarch, Dies at 81

A week of change at Rodale Inc. concluded Friday with one very sad one: Ardath Rodale, former chairman and longtime matriarch of the health-publishing family, has died, according to a statement from the company. No cause of death was given. She was 81.

Rodale spent more than 50 years working for the company that %%DynaPub-Enhancement class="enhancement contentType-HTML Content fragmentId-1 payloadId-61603 alignment-right size-small"%% bears her family's name. Rodale Inc. publishes such titles as Prevention, Organic Gardening and Men's Health.