hi Walter, a few comments on your post.

I believe Ann Wigmore died in 1992, and she was in her early 80's.
Folks who claim to know, report that she was healthy and hearty up until
the fire. Some folks also say it is ironic that the fire that caused
her passing was: 1) caused by her making herbal tea on a hotplate (i.e.,
cooking), and 2) the employees at the Institute were repeatedly told
to never, never enter Ann's private room (the claim is that she
went into her room and ate dried fruit - a no-no on her diet). Even
when the place was on fire, the employees were supposedly afraid
to enter her room - the Fire Dept did.  The person who told me this
reasons that this is how Ann Wigmore was able to appear to thrive on
a diet of "only" energy soup - she was cheating on dried fruit.

I don't personally know how much of the above is true, but will pass
it on for your consideration. There are lots of stories about Ann
Wigmore and dried fruit; perhaps there is some truth to them?

Viktoras - sort of "reinvents" himself, in a sense, every so often.
I saw him years ago in San Francisco, and he looked just awful
He said he was 55 but looked 75 - extreme wrinkles, dehydration,
long stringy white hair, and so on. I saw him again earlier this
year, also in SF. He looked much better. Some people at the talk,
said he looked better than they have ever seen him!

As we are naming names here, Johnny Lovewisdom is in a wheelchair
and apparently never succeded on a pure fruit diet. He needed
veggies and yoghurt. (Side note: for an interesting quote from
one of Johnny Lovewisdom's books, do a search of the raw-food archives
for the keyword: Mussolini).

Over and above the famous examples, it is my personal experience that if
one gets to know a 100% raw and/or 100% fruit "role-model", one
eventually finds that he/she is not strict, eating more than claimed,
eating non-vegan "exceptions", and/or mentally unhealthy. I don't
know even one credible, strict, long-term 100% raw "role-model".

Tom Billings