ALSO: The 2.1 Million Acres in South America Protected by Doug Tompkins. 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 . By Adam Chandler Douglas Tompkins shakes hands with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos in 2003. In 2006, Thompson won in a landslide, defeating Robert Fowler with 85% of the vote. Those trips convinced Tompkins that he could make better outdoor equipment than anything on the market. Among other innovations, Tompkins created the first domed tents held up by bendable poles. Tompkins designed tents that were some of the first to avoid a pole in the middle, by using bendable rods threaded through exterior sleeves instead. [1] He spent the first few years of his life in New York City before his family moved to Millbrook, New York. We are all shocked, though in some way, he was doing what he loved, enjoying nature.. I remember coming here the first time in 1996, and if you were talking about environmental issues you were looked upon as a radical, almost a communist. "For a while, he and Kristine had to live in the American embassy to hide out.". [10] They married in 1964 in San Francisco, where Tompkins borrowed $5,000 from a bank to set up The North Face, now a global retailing company. Need it sooner? Read more on these topics: Americas, Latin America, South America, Outdoor. Douglas Tompkins, the entrepreneur and environmentalist who co-founded outdoor equipment giant The North Face almost 50 years ago, has died in a kayaking accident in the Chilean wilderness . [1][5] Plain Jane was making $2 million a year by 1970. 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. Douglas Tompkins, pictured in Argentina in 2009, died on Tuesday in a kayaking accident in Patagonia. Chouinard paddled safely to shore, but Tompkins and Ridgeway, sharing a two-seater, capsized 200 yards from land, in water below 40 degrees. He had the ability to walk his talk. Chiles army said that a patrol boat rescued three of the boaters and that a helicopter lifted out the other three. . It was taboo to advocate for environmental causes, said Langman, who believes Chileans came to embrace Tompkins in the last years of his life. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DOCTOR, SERGIO GAETE, SAYING: Four years later, he started the Esprit clothing company with his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell. They have also lived in Santa Barbara, CA and Milpitas, CA. The Iber project advocated for enhanced protection of government-owned floodplain lands, and in 2009 the provincial government created Iber Provincial Park on 553,000 hectares of public land in the reserve. 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. South American news stations reported that Mr. Tompkins was in the water for a lengthy period before he was rescued. In 1971 they incorporated the booming business under the name "Plain Jane", which later became Esprit. Get a beanie on orders $125+ for XPLR Pass members. Directory of locations. Doug Thompson in North Dakota. 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. [8] In 1963, Tompkins founded the California Mountaineering Guide Service. 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. Doug was special to many of us. Woman Funded Sexual Harassment Cases Against Trump", "Meet one of Hillary Clinton's biggest donors in California. Ahead of the trip, Tompkins, 72, had described the planned 30km paddle with his longtime buddies as just for old times sake, to keep our hand in there and get a little bit of muscle tone.. He also writes about the cannabis industry, outdoor adventure, Native American issues and the culture of the West. 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, 'Really cool sight': Rare waterspout forms in Northern California, A different horse': Bay Area will likely continue to see rain, Man shot dead near San Francisco Ferry Building, My meal at this landmark SF spot was too expensive to be so bad, 'Lady in the fridge' murder victim ID'd as Bay Area mother of 3, Buster Posey has weak answer on Giants owner's politics, Avalanche slams into Tahoe apartment building amid blizzard, These East Bay gems are a haven for music lovers, What it looks like inside Coit Towers former apartment. Includes Address (7) Phone (3) Email (4) See Results. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environmental groups, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation.[3]. "Doug got accused of being a Nazi or planning to bring down girls and give them abortions," Chouinard says. // Douglas Tompkins, the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing brands and a noted conservationist, died Tuesday after a kayaking accident in the Patagonia region of Chile. There wasnt anything he thought he wanted to do that he didnt do.. That business grew to become the multibillion-dollar retailer Esprit, known for its casual sportswear and lifestyle clothing. How Dougs death will affect negotiations with the government, I dont know, said Butler. But he lived the life while others sat behind a desk.. He co-founded North Face in 1964. He flew off and there we were on the beach, she said. https://t.co/VsAWellWAv, The North Face EMEA (@TheNorthFaceEU) 9 Dicembre 2015. 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. 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". When The North Face founder Douglas Tompkins died after a kayaking accident in December, he left behind an unparalleled legacy: 2.2 million acres of protected wilderness. With a deep bond to Patagonia and Chile, Tompkins dedicated his life to nature and environmental conservation, inspired by the book Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered. Tompkins, however, had spent nearly two hours in the water by the time he was rescued. They have also lived in Eden, NC and Liverpool, NY. The proposed park, which would total 700,000 hectares, would be the largest national park in Argentina and home to hundreds of bird species, giant anteaters, and macaw parrots. At his death Mr. Tompkins had been working on creating new parks in Patagonia and in the Iber wetlands in northeastern Argentina. The accident took place in Chile, where Tompkins lived with his wife Kristine McDivitt, whilst he was kayaking with a group of five people. He was 72. hey 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. 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. He will be missed., A photo posted by The North Face (@thenorthface) on Dec 8, 2015 at 5:11pm PST. She, her sister and the other passengers were told to sit on the tail wing to give the plane traction and then jump off as the plane caught air. Mr. Tompkins and his second wife, the former Kristine McDivitt, a former chief executive of the clothing company Patagonia, moved to South America in the 1990s. Please read this powerful piece, Douglas Tompkins: A Force for Nature, to learn about his legacy. ". [24][25] In December 2015 the Trust donated these lands, including espinal, malezal grasslands, and forests, to the Argentine government to create a strictly-conserved national park to be called Iber National Park. Dec. 8, 2015. When he wasnt able to get the right seeds for tree restoration in nearby nurseries, he opened his own. Find a local store near you. These parks are our life's work, not the clothing chains we created, selling people clothes they don't need. The third result is Doug Lee Thompson age 60s in El Dorado Hills, CA in the Serrano neighborhood. Not only was Tompkins an experienced outdoorsman and respected environmentalist he had also launched two billion-dollar retail companies: outdoor apparel company the North Face and womens clothing manufacturer Esprit. Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident, Patagonias controversial new national park, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. He graduated from Indian Mountain School, a pre-prep school in Lakeville, Connecticut, in 1957. Douglas Tompkins, a noted conservationist and the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing brands, died on Tuesday after a kayaking accident in the Patagonia region of southern . The husband and wife team also donated land to create coastal national parks in Chile and Argentina. [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. His death was confirmed by Coyhaique Regional Hospital, where Mr. Tompkins was flown with severe hypothermia. The deep ecologists are purists. Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies in kayak accident, Highway threatens Chilean preserve created by S.F. I'm a troublemaker and I'm proud of it. The cases of people surviving such serious cases of hypothermia as a result of accidents are extremely rare. Land use is highly political here, more than most places: If we wanted to retire in peace we wouldn't be here. Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. August 5, 2021. [13] The Alliance was critical in getting California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie re-elected. He died from hypothermia at a nearby hospital. Douglas Tompkins and his wife Kristine pose in the front of their house at the estate "Rincon del Socorro" in Ibera, near Carlos Pellegrini in Corrientes Province, Argentina, on November 5, 2009. Suffering from severe hypothermia, Tompkins was flown to Coyhaique Regional Hospital, where he later died in the intensive care unit. Credit: Daniel Garcia/Getty Images. I have bathed in these waters, but you cant last more than five minutes, said Hartmann. donor", "Partisans, Wielding Money, Begin Seeking to Exploit Harassment Claims", "Who Is Susie Tompkins Buell? " says Chouinard. There werent too many dull moments.. He was 72. Ends 2.28, while supplies last. [citation needed], Tompkins also was involved in several large environmental campaigns in Chile and Argentina, such as the "Patagonia Sin Represas" campaign, which opposed the construction of dams on two of the largest and wildest rivers in the Patagonia region of Chile. [9] It was during this time he met Susie Russell, a casino employee who gave him a lift while hitch-hiking to Lake Tahoe. This is what we can do. An early adventure junkie, he opened the North Face in 1964 with his first wife, Susan. The Brazilian government has started evicting illegal gold miners, responsible for the health emergency that has hit the Yanomami people. "The presidents of Argentina and Chile called," says Chouinard, "and said, Hey, let's get the rest of these parks done.' [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. 11. Tompkins Buell co-founded the Esprit clothing and The North Face brand with her first husband, Doug Tompkins whom she met when she picked him up while he was hitchhiking. Doug was a dear mentor to our company and a good friend to many of us here at Patagonia. Shop The North Face Canada End of Season Sale for winter deals on jackets, backpacks, coats, shoes, hoodies, and other outdoor gear for men, women, and kids. Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 - December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. That trip's holy grail was Mount Fitz Roy, a 11,000-foot rock tower in Argentina where they were trapped by storms. It is easy for this to happen, said Hartmann. (Douglas Tompkins was in a very serious condition, they carried out advanced resuscitation techniques, his body temperature was at 19 degrees Celsius when he arrived (at the hospital). Our hearts go out to all of his loved ones. In 1991 he bought the Reihu farm, a semi-abandoned farm at the end of the Reihu Fjord, planning to set aside 42,000 acres (17,000ha) of this unique forest from possible exploitation. Rarely appearing outdoors without a collared shirt or a cashmere sweater, Tompkins seemed determined to prove that no specialty clothing was needed on an adventure. Tompkins spent a "considerable amount of time" in 40F (4C) waters. In 1989, he sold his share of the American company back to Susie, from whom he had separated, putting most of his profits into land conservation. Tompkins was kayaking with five other people in Chilean Patagonia when his boat capsized. Tompkins believes in deep ecology, an absolutist version of environmentalismwhich contains little to surprise a North American reader. Zamboni, Tala, Sebastin Di Martino, and Ignacio Jimnez-Prez (2017). Doug and Kris were responsible for expanding a natural reserve covering 400 hectares of forest in Chile to almost 890,000 hectares divided between Chile and Patagonia. 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], In 1968, Tompkins Buell and Jane Tise co-founded the Plain Jane clothing label. In 1989, the Japanese art publisher Robundo published Esprit, the Comprehensive Design Principle (.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}ISBN4947613203), which documented the all-encompassing design principles that Tompkins had created for the brand.[17]. , he and Kristine had to live in the Iber wetlands in northeastern Argentina (! 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