Douglas tompkins wife
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Profile: Douglas Tompkins, billionaire-turned-conservationist
Douglas Tompkins made a fortune selling high-end jackets and adventure gear as the founder of North Face, but he spent his final years railing against the very corporate world that made him a billionaire.
"There's no doubt whatsoever that there's no future in capitalism," he said in a 2012 interview, external. "It's probably no more than 500 years old, and it's demonstrating over and over again that it is destroying the world."
He moved to the wilds of Chile and Argentina, espousing an anti-consumerist philosophy, buying huge swaths of land and making enemies along the way.
To some he was an environmental hero, but many in South America viewed him with suspicion, unconvinced his motives were altruistic.
North Face founder dies in kayak accident
After founding The North Face as a small ski and backpacking gear shop in San Francisco in the 1960s, Mr Tompkins helped his then wife start Esprit, a clothing brand.
Both companies would grow into multinational clothing giants.
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The Would-Be Savior of Patagonia
Books
Are environmental crusaders like Douglas Tompkins good for the planet?
By Michael O’Donnell
This article was published online on August 5, 2021.
Patagonia as many of us imagine it was born in 1968. That year, the vast region of South America became an exotic destination for outdoor adventure. Of course, residents of Chile and Argentina did not need their backyard discovered any more than Native Americans needed Christopher Columbus. But to a group of young men in California, the landscape held a mystical appeal. That summer they set out by van to drive 16,000 miles southward, drawn by the peak of Fitz Roy, a forbidding mountain that no American had ever summited. Despite weeks of storms, they succeeded. The five men returned home with film footage of breathtaking terrain at the ends of the Earth. Their 1968 expedition has enjoyed a romantic legacy, inspiring countless adventurers—and, in a way, outfitting them as well. One member of the party, Yvon Chouinard, later founded the apparel company Patagonia. The instigator of t
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A Wild Idea: A Biography of Doug Tompkins
Jonathan Franklin, A Wild Idea, New York: HarperOne, 2021.
Reviewed by John Miles, Rewilding Earth book review editor
Businessman, entrepreneur, rock climber, kayaker, pilot, conservationist – exceptionally accomplished and successful in all these endeavors – Doug Tompkins lived several lives in his 72 years, most notably one in the business world, the other in the realm of conservation. And despite the title, he had more than one wild idea – his is a story of one wild idea after another.
Businessman was first; well, not exactly – the climbing and outdoor part set him on a unique life path that preceded his first business venture. A gifted and energetic athlete as a young man, he took up rock climbing and met Yvon Chouinard when he was in high school, establishing a lifelong friendship. He managed to be expelled from high school, rejected going to college, developed his athletic skills in skiing and climbing, and then started his business career, founding the California Mountain Guide Service. Instructors in his school were
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