[26][27] In 2018 the Argentine government created Iber National Park from the donated lands, while the provincial park is administered separately. Tompkins believes in deep ecology, an absolutist version of environmentalismwhich contains little to surprise a North American reader. A lifelong outdoorsman, Mr. Tompkins made his fortune in retailing but later shunned the business world to pursue his passion for nature and conservationism. South American news stations reported that Mr. Tompkins was in the water for a lengthy period before he was rescued. Tompkins, who grew up in Millbrook, New York, is survived by his wife, Kristine, and his two children, Summer Walker and Quincey Imhoff. I just realized at least what I was doing was making a lot of stuff that nobody needed and pushing a consumerist society, said Tompkins in a video from Conservacion Patagonica. Mr. Tompkins attended Pomfret School in Connecticut but never graduated and did not attend college, said Tom Butler, a spokesman for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, which Mr. Tompkins founded in 1990. Susie Tompkins Buell (ne Russell; born 1943) is an American entrepreneur, businesswoman and a donor to progressive causes. He will be missed., A photo posted by The North Face (@thenorthface) on Dec 8, 2015 at 5:11pm PST. By providing your email address, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. For 20 years we have operated to catalyse social change, to awaken and feed a new state of ecological awareness, to inspire and promote new business and consumption models for people as well as companies. The third result is Doug Lee Thompson age 60s in El Dorado Hills, CA in the Serrano neighborhood. COYHAIQUE, CHILE (DECEMBER 8, 2015) (TVN - NO ACCESS CHILE/CNN/CHILE WEBSITES) He flew airplanes, he climbed to the top of mountains all over the world, said his daughter Summer Tompkins Walker. This design also increased the strength of the tent because the domed shape allowed the wind to roll over it. The pair had already converted 480,ooo acres of their holdings to five national parks. 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. 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. 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. Il miliardario Douglas Tompkins aveva dedicato gli ultimi anni alla battaglia ecologista. [1], She attended primary school at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart, Ojai Valley School, and Miss Burkes School. In addition, he was a skilled bush pilot.[16]. Woman Funded Sexual Harassment Cases Against Trump", "Meet one of Hillary Clinton's biggest donors in California. 2023 Patagonia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. It set the course for what we were going to do later in life., In his autobiography Let My People Go Surfing, Chouinard credits Tompkins with introducing him to whitewater kayaking and with mentoring him at a critical time in his companys life. 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. That trip's holy grail was Mount Fitz Roy, a 11,000-foot rock tower in Argentina where they were trapped by storms. 13. He was 72. E-mail: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com. Areas of distinguished expertise: Asset Optimization algorithms. The North Face founder Doug Tompkins poses for a photograph with Jeff Johnson and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard during the filming of the documentary 180 Degrees South in Chile. This is what we can do. Create a free Patagonia account. He was 72. Profile. Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. As Langewiesche details, Tompkins efforts aroused suspicion in Chile, where land purchased to be held and not developed (and not turned into an creator of many jobs) was unheard of. Douglas Tompkinsthe founder of Esprit and The North Faceis using his fortune to build massive national parks in Chile and Argentina. Despite developing heart arrhythmia in his latter years, he showed no signs of slowing down. Web SpecialsSave on Gear for Your Next Trip, Remembering The North Face Founder Douglas Tompkins. Doug also had a visceral dislike for authority, writes Chouinard, and always relished breaking the rules.. Dr. Douglas J. Thompson is an oncologist and is affiliated with UNC Health Blue Ridge.He received his medical degree from Medical College of Georgia and has been in practice for more than 20 years. The story of the Ukraine crisis as told by men, women, and soldiers. "We just weren't prepared," Chouinard admits now. He had the ability to walk his talk. Suffering from severe hypothermia, Tompkins was flown to Coyhaique Regional Hospital, where he later died in the intensive care unit. Nevertheless, she adds, They have protected more land than any other private individuals in history.. Everything we make has an impact on people and the planet. Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was born on March 20, 1943, in Ohio. They appeared to be clad in windbreakers instead of wetsuits. [1] For high school, she attended Lowell High School in the class of 1960 but she did not graduate. 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. There werent too many dull moments.. San Francisco socialite Summer Tompkins Walker, the daughter of North Face and Esprit co-founder Douglas Tompkins, has lost another bruising round in her battle to claim a portion of her late . Doug Tompkins, founder of Esprit and The North Face, is seen in a 2006 file photo at his organic garden near Pumalin Park in Chile. August 5, 2021. 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. Iber Provincial Reserve, established in 1983, encompasses 1,300,000 ha of wetlands, grasslands, forest, and rangelands, including both publicly-owned lands and private cattle ranches. 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. Butler and other friends describe Tompkins as dogged in his determination and a perfectionist in all things he undertook. "For a while, he and Kristine had to live in the American embassy to hide out.". McDivitt Tompkins will continue as the organizations leader. The remote expanses of southern Chile, facing ecological threats from human activity like logging, offered opportunities for the type of large-scale conservation envisioned by this husband-and-wife team. Douglas Tompkins, famed environmentalist and co-founder of The North Face, died on Tuesday after a kayaking accident in the Patagonia region of southern Chile. Learn more about our environmental and social responsibility program. After purchasing large blocks of wilderness, they worked to create national parks, believing that this governmental designation serves as the best mode of guaranteeing long-term conservation. Never Stop Exploring was the company mantra. It is named in honor of the pumas that roam the parks virgin forests. 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. No one else was seriously injured in the accident. Lived In Greensboro NC, Raleigh NC. Doug is related to Jean B Thompson . Ridgeway grabbed a loop of rope on one of the other kayaks and was pulled to shore. Most cattle and internal fences were removed, and a land management program was developed to restore native vegetation and habitat. Douglas Tompkins died at the age of 72, on the 8th of December: billionaire, ecologist and co-founder of The North Face, renowned outdoor apparel brand. 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. Anyone can read what you share. On Tuesday, The North Face, which is now owned by VF Corp. of Greensboro, North Carolina, paid tribute to its co-founder on Instagram. 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. How Dougs death will affect negotiations with the government, I dont know, said Butler. (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). In 1993, he married Kristine L. McDivitt, a former chief executive of Patagonia; the two worked together on conservation projects. Emerging as one of the hottest brands of the era, the company grew into a transnational company operating in 60 countries. Tompkins origins as an environmentalist lie in the early 60s, when the high-school dropout spent several years climbing and skiing everywhere from Colorado to South America. The path was not always smooth, however. Chilean officials told The Associated Press that Tompkins had been boating with five other foreigners on General Carrera Lake when strong waves caused the groups kayaks to capsize. At some stage, he lost consciousness. The businessman and conservationist was 72. strong waves caused the groups kayaks to capsize, considerable amount of time in waters under 4 degrees Celsius, in 1964 to make and sell outdoor equipment, equal an area the size of nearly two Rhode Islands, never ever tried to make life easy for myself, owned by VF Corp. of Greensboro, North Carolina, A photo posted by The North Face (@thenorthface). Tompkins, who founded The North Face and co-founded the Esprit clothing company, lived a life of such relentless adventure, and in the company of such illustrious friends including Tom Brokaw and the novelist Thomas McGuane that he was a near-legendary figure in the outdoor world. "I mean, he was dressed in pressed chinos, a Brooks Brothers shirt, a light sweater, and a rain jacket. [5] Tompkins Buell's then-husband Doug Tompkins, whom she had married in 1964 after the pair met while hitchhiking, joined the company to work on the business side and he put up funds to cover the cost of garment factory production. After he sold Esprit, he started to dedicate himself to protecting nature. 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 . Above:Doug Tompkins, Rick Ridgeway, Yvon Chouinard on the summit of Cerro Kristine in 2008. 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. Photo: Conservacion Patagonica Archives. Sign up for exclusive offers, original stories, activism awareness, events and more. He was flown, by helicopter, to a hospital in nearby Coyhaique, where he died hours later from severe hypothermia. A foundation that bears her name gave money to Media Matters through the Tides Foundation. [37], In Brazil, the environmentalist Douglas Tompkins was specially honored during the celebrations of 30 years of the Society for the Protection of Wildlife with the video A Natureza do Brasil with images of Haroldo Pallo Jnior and the Brazilian pianist Salete Chiamulera.[38]. "Doug would call up and scream at my commander, Hey, damn it, this is colonel so-and-so! Nature lover and adventurer, he founded The North Facein 1964. We are deeply saddened to learn of Doug Tompkins' death. There wasnt anything we were afraid of, there wasnt anything we couldnt figure out how to do, said Susie Tompkins Buell, who was married to Mr. Tompkins until 1989. While there, he borrowed a motorcycle to ride across Chile. "People thought he was a spy at first," says Claudio Seebach, a former adviser to Chilean president Sebastin Piera. [1], In 1968, Tompkins Buell and Jane Tise co-founded the Plain Jane clothing label. Concerned about the environmental impact? The best result we found for your search is Doug W Thompson age 80+ in North Port, FL. " says Chouinard. 2. or. [25], In 2007 the Conservation Land Trust established a rewilding program to reintroduce native species which had been extirpated from the wetlands during the 20th century. [21] Through creating public-access infrastructure, including trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, and a restaurant, Tompkins sought to promote wilderness experience, in hopes of inspiring a deeper environmental ethic in the park's many thousands of visitors. Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 - December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. The aircraft dragged them slowly due to the size of the waves and the danger of catching the rope in the machines propeller. Unable to right their kayak, the pair held on to their boat while the other members of their group attempted to coordinate a rescue.Using a satellite phone, the group called for a helivac while Ellison and Boyles attempted to pull Tompkins from the water. Rumors now range from the conspiratorial to the phantasmagorical: Tompkins is creating a second Israel in South America; he is siphoning off the worlds last freshwater resources for other American millionaires; he is building bunkers for a pending nuclear war. 2. "It's almost as if we've had a subconscious wish to invite catastrophe so we can try to get out of it. He most recently visited our headquarters in Alameda, CA in 2013 and again inspired us to live a life of outdoor exploration. That trip had a big influence on both Doug and I, said Chouinard, who five years later founded the Patagonia clothing company, which operates under a mandate to take care of the environment. General Carrera is a picturesque lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks in the Andes. Get a beanie on orders $125+ for XPLR Pass members. A keen conservationist, he bought up huge swathes of land in southern . In 1992, he formed the Conservation Land Trust, which created Pumaln Park, a nature sanctuary and Chiles largest public park. By the time Tompkins reached the hospital in the town of Coyhaique, he had stopped breathing, and his body temperature had dropped to 19C (66.2F). It was taboo to advocate for environmental causes, said Langman, who believes Chileans came to embrace Tompkins in the last years of his life. They have also lived in Eden, NC and Liverpool, NY. Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies in kayak accident, Highway threatens Chilean preserve created by S.F. To the group sitting in their sea kayaks, only millimeters from the water, the waves must have looked like mountains. It was just an open book of adventure.. I have bathed in these waters, but you cant last more than five minutes, said Hartmann. ", (Tompkins climbing Mt. 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