Pro bodybuilder Craig Licker dead at 57 as sport experiences its latest tragedy

The pro bodybuilding community said goodbye to another one of its own following the death of Craig Licker.

Licker, a Massachusetts native, died earlier in the week, according to multiple reports.

He was 57 years old.

No official cause of death has been given.

The 20-year IFBB pro began his career in 1995 with the Niagara Falls Pro Invitational and the Houston Pro Championship, and after a short bodybuilding sabbatical, returned in 2015 to place 12th in the Chicago Pro and 16th in the Tampa Pro.

“I met Craig back in 1995 and started coaching him soon after… and ultimately that developed into a lifelong friendship,” fellow bodybuilder Dave Palumbo said in an Instagram post. “Craig had a really gifted structure and discipline for bodybuilding. If you told him to eat dirt; he’d ask you ‘how many oz?’”

“Craig and I both were BMW fanatics .. he had a tuned-to-the-max BMW M3 and I had an M5… we spent ludicrous amounts of money on upgrading our cars and we’d race each other and talk ‘car shop’ all the time,” he continued. “I will miss our always interesting conversations and his great sense of humor … RIP my friend!”

The news of Licker’s death adds to a growing list of bodybuilding deaths in recent months.

Earlier this week, Hayley McNeff died at the age of 37 in an “unexpected” tragedy.

Columbian bodybuilder Zunilda Hoyos Mendez, a 43-year-old known as “She Hulk,” was found beaten to death with a hammer while on vacation.

Jodi Vance, 20, died of what her family believed to be “severe hydration” in March, while Vittorio “Vito” Pirbazari, 44, a star of Netflix’s “Dog of Berlin,” reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack while running on a treadmill in April.