Billionaire founder of North Face clothing brand dies in kayak accident

US billionaire Douglas Tompkins, who co-founded the outdoor label The North Face, died in a kayaking accident in Chile’s southern Patagonia region. The 72-year-old succumbed to severe hypothermia after capsizing on Lake Carrera and slipping into its near-freezing waters, said the health department of Chile’s Aysen region. Tompkins was kayaking with four other Americans and a Mexican on the lake when violent winds generated 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 he died.

Lately I’ve been paying more attention to my biological clock. I tell myself to hurry up, that I have to do everything before death catches me.

Douglas Tompkins, in his final interview last month

Tompkins founded the American outdoor clothing and camping label The North Face in 1964 with a partner. 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. 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. He attracted criticism from some Chilean politicians who accused him of leading an ecological sect and of trying to control key Patagonian waterways.

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