Brian Leigh Maxwell was a British born Canadian track and field athlete, track coach, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He founded PowerBar, a maker of energy and nutritional products for athletes. Maxwell initially never intended to become a marathon runner, but lacked the speed necessary to be competitive at shorter distances. Despite being told as a teenager of his congenital heart condition, he persevered, and by 1977, he was ranked third among all marathoners by Track and Field News. At age 51, he died of a heart attack at a local post office.