He was a passionate advocate for the environment, and his legacy of conservation is one that we hope to help continue in the work we do every day. At Beijing 2022 politics and superpower rivalry are dominating the headlines. Log In. In 1991, Mr. Tompkins bought the 42,000-acre Reihu Farm and founded the Pumaln Project, dedicated to the protection of the lands primeval native rain forest, which was being threatened by logging. [1] He spent the first few years of his life in New York City before his family moved to Millbrook, New York. 6. Doug Thompson. donor", "Partisans, Wielding Money, Begin Seeking to Exploit Harassment Claims", "Who Is Susie Tompkins Buell? [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. Learn more about our environmental and social responsibility program. 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). [6], Tompkins was born in Conneaut, Ohio on March 20, 1943, the son of an antiques dealer and decorator. With Tompkins at the helm, Esprit ballooned in popularity, eventually reaching $1 billion in sales. Profile. [1] Her father was a "betting commissioner" and worked in real estate. Find Doug Thompson's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading people search directory for contact information and public records. Susie Tompkins Buell (ne Russell; born 1943) is an American entrepreneur, businesswoman and a donor to progressive causes. [20] The Tompkinses' conservation efforts focused on preserving wild landscapes and biodiversity. Doug was a dear mentor to our company and a good friend to many of us here at Patagonia. "The presidents of Argentina and Chile called," says Chouinard, "and said, Hey, let's get the rest of these parks done.' (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DOCTOR, SERGIO GAETE, SAYING: "For a while, he and Kristine had to live in the American embassy to hide out.". At the time of his death, Tompkins was in the process of working with the Chilean government to convert the rest of the land into an additional seven parks. But by 1990 he had grown disillusioned with the corporate world and sold his stake in Esprit for what was reported as more than $150 million. 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. The second best result is Doug Thompson age 50s in Lakeland, FL in the Camphor neighborhood. August 5, 2021. So I went to do something else.. Mr. Tompkins eventually landed near Tahoe City, Calif., where he worked in the ski lodges and started his first business, the California Mountaineering Service. Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. That same year, Tompkins suggested a trip to Patagonia to his friend Yvon Chouinard, who was at that time making climbing hardwear. At his death Mr. Tompkins had been working on creating new parks in Patagonia and in the Iber wetlands in northeastern Argentina. Dont worry, we'll only contact you about activism here. 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. Those close to him recall a brilliant man with an absolute passion for nature. It was just an open book of adventure.. Together they founded the North Face as a small ski and backpacking retail shop in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. We are the space in which education becomes determination, feeling becomes action, the goal becomes solution and result. 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. 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. 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. McDivitt Tompkins will continue as the organizations leader. Create a free Patagonia account. We are deeply saddened to learn of Doug Tompkins' death. Doug was special to many of us, the company wrote. [1] The Tompkins divorced in 1989. [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. The pair tried repeatedly to right the boat. These parks are our life's work, not the clothing chains we created, selling people clothes they don't need. He was 72. Suffering from severe hypothermia, Tompkins was flown to Coyhaique Regional Hospital, where he later died in the intensive care unit. [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. We are the ones who keep putting obstacles in our own way by buying more land. Growing increasingly concerned about the ecological impacts of the fashion industry, Tompkins decided to leave the business world in the late 1980s. 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. By Adam Chandler Douglas Tompkins shakes hands with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos in 2003. He was 72. 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. To us, environmental and human sustainability represent an authentic lifestyle that defines our way of being in the world; an attitude centred around conscientiousness and concrete actions. As a teenager, he got kicked out of his Connecticut prep school and took off for South America to train with the U.S. ski 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. Forecast and Projection . In an extraordinary example of womens empowerment, a market in Indias Manipur state has been run entirely by women for the past 500 years. There werent too many dull moments.. 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 . Nevertheless, she adds, They have protected more land than any other private individuals in history.. Includes Address (7) Phone (3) Email (4) See Results. Photograph Courtesy Chris Jones), Tompkins' convictions never wavered. He flew airplanes, he climbed to the top of mountains all over the world, said his daughter Summer Tompkins Walker. [17] By 1978, sales topped $100 million a year and the company had formed partnerships in Germany and Hong Kong. The Grateful Dead played at the store's opening, and beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg and jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie often dropped by the store. Kris Tompkins continues the work they started together as president of Tompkins Conservation. Douglas Tompkins at his home in Pumalin Park in Chile in 2005. Mr. Tompkins was described as an adventurer and risk taker who employed his brilliant imagination both in business and in trying to save the Earth. At the time in South America, there was no precedent for private individuals much less foreigners spending gargantuan sums to save wilderness. Tompkins was an avid conservationist and created the . The third result is Doug Lee Thompson age 60s in El Dorado Hills, CA in the Serrano neighborhood. The health service in the Aysn administrative region said Mr. Tompkins was boating with five others on General Carrera Lake when their kayaks capsized in heavy waves. It would provide safe habitat for a range of native species, and encourage a transition from "an exploitative economy" to "an economy of conservation and ecotourism". [3] In 2010, Thompson won two thirds of the vote in his ward, defeating Mark Scharfe and Bob Masaro. Douglas Tompkins, an outdoorsman, environmental activist, conservationist and entrepreneur who co-founded the North Face clothing company in San Francisco, died Tuesday in a kayaking accident . In 1994, The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), along with U.S. philanthropist Peter Buckley, acquired 208,000 acres (84,000ha) of native forest that was slated for logging, adjacent to vast areas of federal land under the jurisdiction of the Chilean Armed Forces. (Tompkins, Dorworth, Jones and Chouinard in 1968. Thompson had . He also writes about the cannabis industry, outdoor adventure, Native American issues and the culture of the West. While there, he borrowed a motorcycle to ride across Chile. Weve pledged 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. "Conservation is not without its critics and opposition," he acknowledged in an interview just before he died. Where the fuck is that Chouinard! He succumbed to hypothermia resulting from a kayaking accident that took place in Patagonia . 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.. 2. But he lived the life while others sat behind a desk.. After he sold Esprit, he started to dedicate himself to protecting nature. 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 . We see the loss of biodiversity as the greatest crisis of our time, writes Tompkins Conservation. @doug.thompson.566. In 1992, he formed the Conservation Land Trust, which created Pumaln Park, a nature sanctuary and Chiles largest public park. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPOKESPERSON FOR THE TOMPKINS FAMILY, HERNAN MLADINIC, SAYING: According to a 2012 profile in Earth Island Journal. [10] In 2006, The Washington Post published a story about the Democracy Alliance, calling it an "exclusive donor club" for progressive donors and identifying Tompkins Buell and her husband Mark Buell as members. It is easy for this to happen, said Hartmann. The North Face founder Doug Tompkins on the first ascent of Chile's Ruta de los Californianos in 1968. Doug Tompkins in Patagonia National Park. Anyone can read what you share. I'm a troublemaker and I'm proud of it. 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. 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). Select this result to view Doug W Thompson's phone number, address, and more. He was flown, by helicopter, to a hospital in nearby Coyhaique, where he died hours later from severe hypothermia. He founded the Tompkins Conservation with his second wife, Kristine -- herself a former chief executive of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia -- and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into conservation projects. Need it sooner? Mr. Tompkins would sometimes hitchhike, and in the summer of 1963 he was picked up by a young woman, Susie Buell, who shared his enthusiasm for the outdoors. He said that the group was perhaps too confident for the lakes fickle conditions. 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. 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