Born February 26, 1968 in Halifax, Canada.

Rene was married to Jeanne Nielsen a member of the WABDL Hall of Fame. He was a San Francisco Police Officer for the last 17 years. San Francisco is probably the toughest cities in the country to be a police officer based on many people I talk to all over the country. Bruce Wilhelm who I competed against in World’s Strongest Man contest said Market Square in San Francisco is a crime zone, Bob Levering, a member of WABDL Hall of Fame lived in Santa Cruz and drove to San Francisco every day for work refused to go to San Francisco at night due to high crime. Bob since moved to Sandpoint, Idaho and he said for the 1st time in my I’m in a stress free environment. The point being every cop in San Francisco lives in hell daily and aren’t nearly appreciated enough. Rene was always

low key and calm and in control. He attained rank of Sergeant which means he was in the field and usually in charge of highly charged crime scenes. He was a man’s man, somebody that you could count on in a bar fight or a fox hole hostage situation. That’s the criteria of how you measure a man, not how many homes you own, how much money you have, or even how much you lift.

Rene started lifting weights as a teenager. He started powerlifting in his 20’s and followed the Westside Barbell programming. He owned Pacifica Athlete Center until 2006 and there he led a top-level powerlifting team, many of whose records still stand today. Rene and Jeanne created Valhalla in 2021, an all female powerlifting gym and have been competing in WABDL meets since 2022. Valhalla brought many lifters to this year’s World’s Championships in Las Vegas and set

many World, National and State records which I’m sure brought a smile to Rene’s face.

In closing, Rene was an asset to WABDL and to all the people he touched in weightlifting, policing and socialization. He was a very subdued presence in a very courageous masculine way. He will be missed by everyone he came in touch with.

Gus Rethwisch