Doug also had a visceral dislike for authority, writes Chouinard, and always relished breaking the rules.. The deep ecologists are purists. It is an ecocentric view that rejects the idea of inherent human superiority and instead gives equal moral weight to all elements of naturefrom the living to the inanimate. Beginning in the mid-1960s, he and Susie Tompkins Buell, his first wife, co-founded and ran two companies: the outdoor equipment and clothing company The North Face and the Esprit clothing company. Mr. Tompkins, who also co-founded Esprit with his then-wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, capsized while paddling with five other people on General Carrera Lake in the Patagonia region, according to reports confirmed by North Face officials. Four years later, he started the Esprit clothing company with his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell. Forecast and Projection . Esprits success in the 1980s fueled much of the conservation work that occupied Mr. Tompkins for much of the rest of his life. Douglas Tompkins at his home in Pumalin Park in Chile in 2005. The cases of people surviving such serious cases of hypothermia as a result of accidents are extremely rare. The following year, he married longtime Patagonia CEO Kristine McDivitt, who helped him found the land trust Conservacion Patagonica in 2000. But in December, the 72-year-old Tompkins and Chouinard, along with climber Rick Ridgeway and three others, were on a five-day, 50-mile kayak paddle in southern Chile when the group ran into what Chouinard calls a perfect trap. After he sold Esprit, he started to dedicate himself to protecting nature. National Geographic photographer and film-maker Jimmy Chin said Tompkins was still on fire when he undertook an expedition for the 2010 film 180 Degrees South, which recreated the 1968 trip he and Chouinard made to Patagonia. He succumbed to hypothermia resulting from a kayaking accident that took place in Patagonia . Ridgeway grabbed a loop of rope on one of the other kayaks and was pulled to shore. Tompkins was kayaking with five other people in Chilean Patagonia when his boat capsized. He flew airplanes, he climbed to the top of mountains all over the world, his daughter told The New York Times. Doug Tompkins in Patagonia National Park. At a ceremony for signing of the accord between government and the foundation, Tompkins' long-term friend Yvon Chouinard claimed that No other human has ever created this many acres of protected wildlands". doug tompkins north face map south america. He began rock climbing at age 12 in the Shawangunk Mountains in southern New York State; by 15 he was skiing and climbing mountains during family trips to Wyoming, according to the 2009 book Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet.. [12] Two years later, Tompkins sold out his stake to Kenneth "Hap" Klopp for $50,000, using the profit to join his wife in co-founding Esprit, a fashion house. [5] Tompkins had recommended changing the name Plain Jane to Esprit de Corp.[6], By 1986, the global clothing brand had reached $800 million in sales. Tompkins acknowledged the local objections to an outsider buying up land in Chile, but he believed the risks of going up against the Chilean government outweighed doing nothing: First of all, you never know if youre doing to right thing, he once said. He most recently visited our headquarters in Alameda, CA in 2013 and again inspired us to live a life of outdoor exploration. [14], In 2016, Tompkins Buell donated $500,000 to lawyer Lisa Bloom's firm in order to assist women who came forward with sexual harassment and assault allegations against Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Doug Tompkins millionaire philanthropist and co-founder of the clothing companies North Face and Esprit shared a two-person kayak with Rick Ridgeway, 66, a veteran mountain climber and environmentalist who made the first American ascent of K2. A small facility in the Pillan farm processes honey and berries for jams, which are sold under the name Pillan Organics. In addition to his wife and Ms. Walker, Mr. Tompkins is survived by his mother, Faith; his brother, John, and another daughter, Quincey Tompkins Imhoff. At 17 he headed to Colorado, working in Aspen and squirreling away money for a year before flying to Europe to ski the Alps. Several years later the couple, along with a third partner, Jane Tise, started selling plain Jane dresses out of a station wagon. Dec. 8, 2015. Our hearts go out to all of his loved ones. Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. At the time in South America, there was no precedent for private individuals much less foreigners spending gargantuan sums to save wilderness. In his senior year at Pomfret School in Connecticut, Tompkins was expelled for various minor infractions. Includes Address (7) Phone (3) Email (4) See Results. Susie Tompkins Buell (ne Russell; born 1943)[2] is an American entrepreneur, businesswoman and a donor to progressive causes. "It's almost as if we've had a subconscious wish to invite catastrophe so we can try to get out of it. They were on the fourth day of what was supposed to be an easy five-day paddle around the north side of Lake General Carrera, the vast turquoise-watered glacial lake which straddles the border of Argentina and Chile. By the time the craft had towed the two to shore, Tompkins had been in the water for more than an hour. We will share more memories of our friend in the coming days. In an extraordinary example of womens empowerment, a market in Indias Manipur state has been run entirely by women for the past 500 years. Tompkins appointed himself "image director", developing his own marketing approach: overseeing all aspects of the company's image, from store design to catalogue layout, while his wife served as design director. In an interview with La Tercera, the co-pilot of the rescue helicopter said the craft had no mechanism to airlift Tompkins directly from the water. So I went to do something else.. As The New York Times noted, this included buying more than 740,000 acres of land in Chile and turning most of it into Pumaln Park, a nature sanctuary. An earlier version referred to Laurence Alvarez-Roos as the groups guide, rather than a group member. I want him down at the baseball diamond right now!' In the process of buying up land for what he hoped would be 12 national parks, he reforested denuded acres, cultivated sustainable farms, built visitor centers and established hiking trails. Photo: Conservacion Patagonica Archives. Nevertheless, she adds, They have protected more land than any other private individuals in history.. [35], In 2007, he was appointed as an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, in recognition of his work restoring damaged landscapes. If youre not willing to take the political heat, then you shouldnt get into the game of land conservation, especially on a large scale., Douglas Tompkins, 72, North Face Founder, Dies in Kayaking Accident, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/business/douglas-tompkins-72-north-face-founder-dies-in-kayaking-accident.html. Esprit, died in the terrain he was devoted to conserving. He was rescued but later died from severe hypothermia. Ends 2.28, while supplies last. Douglas A Thompson, 47. He was flown, by helicopter, to a hospital in nearby Coyhaique, where he died hours later from severe hypothermia. Inspired by the principles of Norwegian philosopher Arne Nss, he established the Foundation for Deep Ecology in 1990, concerned with re-establishing man as a member of the natural world and not its master. // There wasnt anything he thought he wanted to do that he didnt do.. Doug is related to Jean B Thompson . They hardly ever talk politics", "The rise and fall of San Francisco's coolest clothing brand", "Democratic Hopefuls Getting More Green in Wealthy Bay Area", "A New Alliance Of Democrats Spreads Funding", "Soros-Funded Media Matters Attacks Conservatives", "Soros and liberal groups seeking top election posts in battleground states", "Obama losing financial backing of big S.F. He will be missed. Soon enough, he came back and landed and everything was fine. [1], She attended primary school at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart, Ojai Valley School, and Miss Burkes School. Emerging as one of the hottest brands of the era, the company grew into a transnational company operating in 60 countries. Each of these farms produces a variety of products, including sheep, cattle, honey, berries, and organic vegetables. The retail store named after the coldest, most unforgiving side of a mountain was founded in North Beach as a way to equip mountaineers, explorers and climbers. In 2005, then-president Ricardo Lagos accepted this proposal, and the 726,000-acre (294,000ha) Corcovado National Park was born.[16]. The two had two daughters and co-founded the Esprit clothing company. He bought a 16mm camera and, with Chouinard, climber Lito Tejada-Flores and ski racer Dick Dorworth, packed an old Ford van with surfboards, skis, and gear, and drove 8,000 miles from California to Argentina. The second best result is Doug W Thompson age 80+ in North Port, FL. We are the space in which education becomes determination, feeling becomes action, the goal becomes solution and result. Doug Tompkins, the co-founder of The North Face and Esprit clothing lines, died Tuesday while kayaking in Patagonia, Chile. By 1986, Esprit had grown into a global brand, hitting $800 million in sales. The brand was greatly success and he sold it in 1968 in order to dedicate himself to the brand Esprit with his first wife, Jane Tise. The Brazilian government has started evicting illegal gold miners, responsible for the health emergency that has hit the Yanomami people. The Conservation Land Trust (a U.S. environmental foundation) donated these protected lands to Fundacin Pumaln (a Chilean foundation), for their administration and continual development as a type of National Park with public access under a private initiative. They were an eco power couple, said Conservacion Patagonicas Butler. Photograph Courtesy Chris Jones). U.S. environmentalist and businessman Douglas Tompkins, the founder of outdoor clothing and equipment company The North Face, died on Tuesday during a kayaking trip in Chile, local health . Two weeks later, they loaded a Ford Econoline with surfboards and climbing gear in Ventura, California, and headed south. He was at various points accused of being a spy, of buying up land to create a Zionist enclave, and of planning to ship Chiles fresh water to parched lands overseas. In 1968, Tompkins headed off on a six-month road-adventure trip from California to Patagonia, along with Yvon Chouinard, Dick Dorworth, and Chris Jones (calling themselves the "Fun Hogs"), who made the third ascent of Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia in 1968. Through the Foundation for Deep Ecology, Tompkins published a series of large-format, activist photograph books on environmental issues, including: In addition, The Foundation for Deep Ecology had a long history as a grant-maker in categories such as Biodiversity and Wilderness, Ecological Agriculture, and Megatechnology and Economic Globalization, although in-house publishing is now its main focus. In the course of his career as a conservationist, Tompkins, originally from Ohio, had preserved some 2.2m acres of land in Chile and Argentina with his wife, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia. [9] She led Clinton's fundraising efforts for 2008 in the San Francisco Bay area. He founded the Foundation for Deep Ecology in 1990, which supports environmental activism (see deep ecology), and The Conservation Land Trust in 1992, now called Tompkins Conservation, which works to protect wildlands, primarily in Chile and Argentina.[16][19]. [1] Her father was a "betting commissioner" and worked in real estate. [39][40] He was 72 years old and survived by his second wife, Kristine (McDivitt), two daughters, brother and mother.[13][41]. [12] Buell along with George Soros and other Democracy Alliance members John R. Hunting; Paul Rudd (co-founder of Adaptive Analytics); Pat Stryker; Nicholas Hanauer; ex-Clinton administration official Rob Stein; Drummond Pike; real estate developer Robert Bowditch; Pioneer Hybrid International-heir and congressional candidate Scott Wallace; Gail Furman; real estate developer Albert Dwoskin; and Taco Bell-heir Rob McKay, funded the Secretary of State Project, an American non-profit, 527 political action committee focused on electing reform-minded progressive Secretaries of State in battleground states, who typically oversee the election process. His beat includes earthquake research, marine biology, wildfire science, nuclear testing, archaeology, wildlife and scientific exploration of land and sea. He was 72. The Iber project was a private conservation enterprise that was spearheaded by Tompkins, working with George Soros, Harvard University,[22] and Rewilding Argentina. [14] They put up a new route on Mount Fitzroy, and - together with filmmaker Lito Tejada-Flores, who also made the ascent - made an adventure film, Mountain of Storms, about their experience. Tompkins, who co-founded North Face and Esprit, died in the ecological empyrean of Patagonia that he had sought to protect after cashing out of his life in America and moving to South America. Suffering from severe hypothermia, Tompkins was flown to Coyhaique Regional Hospital, where he later died in the intensive care unit. Three members of the group were reportedly rescued by a military patrol boat while a helicopter lifted out the other three. He had absolutely no respect for authority.". Mr. Tompkins used his fortune to buy roughly 2.2 million acres through his various conservation groups, Mr. Butler said. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Douglas Lynn Thompson, 67. He had the ability to walk his talk. [1] For high school, she attended Lowell High School in the class of 1960 but she did not graduate. In February 2012, Tompkins Buell stopped supporting President Barack Obama, citing disappointment with his leadership on environmental issues including climate change. Tompkins is buried at a small cemetery near the Lodge at Valle Chacabuco in Parque Patagonia. North Face co-founder and conservation luminary Doug Tompkins, 72, died yesterday in Coyhaique, Chile. Was flown to Coyhaique Regional hospital, where he died hours later severe! For high School in the intensive care unit and always relished breaking the rules in Parque.... 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