Who are some obese people who have had a positive impact on society and been good role models?

Question

Good role models for what, the American Heart Association? This is an odd question. Obesity is a serious condition, becoming very shortly the number 1 preventable Health Concern (overtaking smoking very soon).

http://www.obesity.org/

Now, to your question, but begging to avoid the role model question. Burl Ives, Deborah Voigt, Luciano Pavarotti, and Marilyn Horne. These come to mind rapidly. That these talented people were so great in spite of health concerns is a tribute to them.

Orson Welles (though he was not obese during his creative prime); William Howard Taft; Ludwig Erhard; Winston Churchill; Helmut Kohl; Ethel Walters