Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of Esprit and North Face, dies in Chile kayak accident
Douglas Tompkins, the American co-founder of fashion label Esprit and outdoor brand The North Face, has died in a kayak accident in Chile's southern Patagonia region, a doctor who tried to save him said.
The 72-year-old succumbed to “severe hypothermia” after capsising on Lake Carrera and slipping into its near-freezing waters, Carlos Salazar, the emergency room doctor, told Biobio Radio.
Tompkins was kayaking with four other Americans and a Mexican on the lake when violent winds sprang up in the afternoon, generating waves that tossed them all into the water.
A Chilean navy ship rescued the group and Tompkins was taken by private helicopter to the hospital in the town of Coyhaique where, despite doctors' efforts, he died.
Four years later he helped his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, establish the clothing brand Esprit and grow it into a big business before their divorce in 1989. Hong Kong-based Esprit Holdings Ltd would later buy out the worldwide brand in 2002.
After selling his stakes in The North Face and Esprit for a fortune, Tompkins retired to Chile in 1990 and became a noted conservationist and philanthropist.