Heart Attack Kills ‘Polar Bear’ Swimmer

An elderly “polar bear” swimmer who believed his frigid winter swims brought vigor to his life collapsed and died Monday minutes after taking his annual New Year’s Day plunge.

Bruce MacIntosh, 74, a retired probation officer, had been a member of Hamilton’s Polar Bear Club for three decades. In that time, he missed only two of the group’s icy dips in Lake Ontario - once after a heart attack and the second after a hip replacement.

On Monday, MacIntosh plunged into the lake’s 34-degree water - less than 2 degrees above freezing - dressed only in blue swim trunks. “Well, there’s another year,” told a club member after completing his dive.

He fell over about five minutes later and was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead. Police said he died of cardiac failure.