Bodyguard's Mike Cochrane semi-retiring: going to Greece, chillin'

In a short announcement emailed to friends and colleagues on Sept. 2, Mike Cochrane has announced he is “semi-retiring” from Bodyguard Fitness where he has held down the St-Georges, Quebec-based, Canadian equipment company as global sales and marketing manager.

The subject line — in typical Cochrane fashion — said simply “Mike is leaving the building…”

The body of the email added that he was going to be “off to an island in Greece with my wife to play a bit,” and that he was going to take “a long-long break to chill.”

Cochrane, who has been around the industry for a number of years, has served on numerous boards in the past and has always voiced his support of the industry and a company’s need to support the industry as a whole.

SNEWS® was unable to track him down on short notice since he was obviously too busy rebuilding his house for his car hobby and polishing his automobile gems — a 1957 Porsche and 1966 Karmann Ghia.

But lest we think Cochrane’s smile, wit and warmth are gone from the industry for good, don’t look over your shoulder. He said that after a “semi-retirement to relax, drive the sports cars,” he’ll be looking for what he simply called “new ventures.”

Within a couple of hours of announcing his departure, the title on his email changed from “international sales and marketing” to “that old Bodyguard guy.”

We’ll try to snare him for a longer chat — if we can wrest him from staring lovingly at the Porsche and Karmann Ghia.