Douglas Tompkins, multi-billionaire, environmentalist and founder of The North Face, the well-known outdoor and sportswear brand, has died at the age of 72.

The incident occurred in Chile, where Tompkins lived with his wife Kristine McDivitt, during a kayaking outing with five other people. The kayak capsized, throwing Tompkins into the icy water. Emergency services were unable to save him and he was declared dead from hypothermia.

A lover of nature and adventure, in 1964 he founded The North Face to immediate and enormous success, selling it in 1968 to devote himself to documentary filmmaking and the launch of the Esprit brand, together with his first wife, Jane Tise.

An adventure companion of fellow legendary climber and surfer Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia (another storied outdoor brand), the two together opened a new route on Mount Fitz Roy and forever changed the way people climb and experience the mountains.

Deeply connected to Patagonia and Chile, Tompkins dedicated himself to nature and environmental conservation, inspired by reading the book Deep Ecology: living as if nature mattered. After selling his stake in Esprit, he began to focus all his energy on the defence of nature. Starting with 400 hectares of forest in Chile, Doug and his wife Kris expanded this reserve to 890,000 hectares across Chile and Argentina.

The North Face EU @TheNorthFaceEU

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We are deeply saddened by the news of Doug Tompkins' passing. Doug was special to many of us. He will be missed. bit.ly/1M2pEsa

♥ 9 9 dic 2015 · Apri su X →

"We see the loss of biodiversity as one of the greatest crises of our time," reads the Foundation's official website. "We believe that humans have a moral duty to share the planet with other species, and that we must reorient our values and activities so that all forms of life can flourish."

He passed away doing what he loved most — one of the most important figures in activism and ecology that our generations have ever known.