Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman,
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
, filmmaker, and
agriculturalist
An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...
. He co-founded the North Face Inc, Esprit and various environmental groups.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, he and Susie Tompkins Buell, his first wife, co-founded and ran two companies: the outdoor equipment and clothing company
The North Face
The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, in Yosemite ...
and the Esprit clothing company. Following their divorce and Tompkins' departure from the business world in 1989, he became active in environmental and land conservation causes. In the 1990s Tompkins and his second wife, Kris McDivitt Tompkins bought and conserved more than of
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, exceeding that of any other private individuals in the region, thus becoming among the largest private land-owners in the world. The Tompkinses were focused on park creation, wildlife recovery, ecological agriculture, and activism, with the goal of saving biodiversity.
He had assembled and preserved the land which became the largest gift of private land to any South American government. Due to this, he was posthumously naturalized
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an.
Early life
Tompkins was born in
Conneaut, Ohio
Conneaut ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of Conneaut Creek northeast of Cleveland. The population was 12,841 at the 2010 Census. Conneaut is located at the far northeast ...
on March 20, 1943, the son of an antiques dealer and decorator. He spent the first few years of his life in New York City before his family moved to
Millbrook, New York
Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, on the east side of the Hudson River, north of New York City. Millbrook is near the center of the town of Washington, of which it is a ...
. He graduated from
Indian Mountain School
Indian Mountain School is an independent coeducational boarding and day school for children grades pre-K through 9, located on two campuses in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States.
The school consists of Lower and Upper campus, with Lower Cam ...
, a pre-prep school in
Lakeville, Connecticut
Lakeville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, close to Dutchess County, New York. It is within the town of Salisbury, but has its own ZIP Code (06039). As of the 2010 census, the population of Lak ...
, in 1957. In his senior year at
Pomfret School
Pomfret School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, United States, serving 350 students in grades 9 through 12 and post-graduates. Located in the Pomfret Street Historic District, ...
in Connecticut, Tompkins was expelled for various minor infractions. He returned to his hometown in Millbrook, but did not graduate from high school.
Tompkins spent the years between 1960 and 1962 ski racing and rock climbing in Colorado, Europe, and South America. In 1963, Tompkins founded the California Mountaineering Guide Service. It was during this time he met Susie Russell, a casino employee who gave him a lift while hitch-hiking to Lake Tahoe. They married in 1964 in San Francisco, where Tompkins borrowed $5,000 from a bank to set up The North Face, now a global retailing company.
The North Face, Inc.
In 1964, Doug and Susie Tompkins started
The North Face
The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, in Yosemite ...
, Inc. as a mail order and retail company, selling rock climbing and
camping equipment
Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...
. The early years set the design standard of good quality sleeping bags,
backpack
A backpack—also called knapsack, schoolbag, rucksack, rucksac, pack, sackpack, booksack, bookbag or backsack—is, in its simplest frameless form, a fabric sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders ...
s, and
mountaineering
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...
tents. The Tompkinses designed tents that were some of the first to avoid a pole in the middle, by using bendable rods threaded through exterior sleeves instead. This design also increased the strength of the tent because the domed shape allowed the wind to roll over it. These tents have been widely copied throughout the world. In 1966, the first The North Face store was opened; the band
The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
played at the grand opening. Two years later, Tompkins sold out his stake to Kenneth "Hap" Klopp for $50,000, using the profit to join his wife in co-founding Esprit, a fashion house. Tompkins sold The North Face with the intention of a focus on adventure film making.
Adventure filmmaking
In 1968, Tompkins headed off on a six-month road-adventure trip from California to
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
, along with
Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, philanthropist and outdoor industry businessman. His company, Patagonia, is known for its commitment to protecting the environment.
Chouinard is also a surf ...
,
Dick Dorworth
Dick Dorworth is a noted ski racer, coach and world record holder. Dorworth is the author of four books, ''Night Driving'', ''The Perfect Turn'', ''The Straight Course'', and ''Climbing to Freedom''.
He was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowb ...
, and Chris Jones (calling themselves the "Fun Hogs"), who made the third ascent of Mount Fitz Roy in
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
in 1968. They put up a new route on
Mount Fitzroy
Monte Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or simply Mount Fitz Roy) is a mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile. The 2010 film '' 180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless'' describes a modern-day recreation of this journey and also highlights the conservation work on which Tompkins had been working.
Tompkins also became a skilled whitewater kayaker, claiming first descents of rivers in California, Africa, and South America. In addition, he was a skilled bush pilot.
Esprit
In 1968, Tompkins, his wife Susie, and her friend Jane Tise began selling girls dresses, which they had planned on the kitchen table, out of the back of a VW bus. In 1971 they incorporated the booming business under the name "Plain Jane", which later became Esprit. By 1978, sales topped $100 million a year and the company had formed partnerships in Germany and Hong Kong. Tompkins appointed himself "image director", developing his own marketing approach: overseeing all aspects of the company's image, from store design to catalogue layout, while his wife served as design director.
Emerging as one of the hottest brands of the era, the company grew into a transnational company operating in 60 countries. In 1989, the Japanese art publisher Robundo published ''Esprit, the Comprehensive Design Principle'' (), which documented the all-encompassing design principles that Tompkins had created for the brand.
Growing increasingly concerned about the ecological impacts of the fashion industry, Tompkins decided to leave the business world in the late 1980s. In 1989, he sold his share of the American company back to Susie, from whom he had separated, putting most of his profits into land conservation. Subsequently, in 1989 and 1994, he sold his interests in the other Esprit entities around the world.
Land conservation
After selling his interest in Esprit, Tompkins turned his efforts toward southern Chile, where he had spent much time climbing, kayaking, and skiing, to focus on land conservation and environmental activism. He founded the Foundation for Deep Ecology in 1990, which supports environmental activism (see
deep ecology
Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.
Deep ecolo ...
), and
The Conservation Land Trust
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
in 1992, which works to protect wildlands, primarily in Chile and Argentina.
In 1993, he married Kristine L. McDivitt, a former chief executive of the Patagonia retail chain; the two worked together on conservation projects. The Tompkinses' conservation efforts focused on preserving wild landscapes and biodiversity. After purchasing large blocks of wilderness, they worked to create national parks, believing that this governmental designation serves as the best mode of guaranteeing long-term conservation.
Pumalín Park
Tompkins's first major conservation project was Pumalín Park in the
Palena Province
Palena Province ( es, Provincia de Palena) is the southernmost administrative area in Chile's Los Lagos Region Los Lagos (X). The area is also called Continental Chiloe or Northern Patagonia, as geographers consider the Palena Province to be the ...
of Chile, an area of
Valdivian temperate rain forest
The Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404) is an ecoregion on the west coast of southern South America, in Chile and Argentina. It is part of the Neotropical realm. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia. The Valdivian temperate rainfore ...
, high peaks, lakes, and rivers. In 1991 he bought the Reñihué farm, a semi-abandoned farm at the end of the Reñihué Fjord, planning to set aside of this unique forest from possible exploitation. In the next decade, The Conservation Land Trust added another in nearly contiguous parcels to create Pumalín Park, which eventually stretched from the Corcovado Gulf to the Andes mountains, over an area of 800,000 acres.
In 2005, then-president
Ricardo Lagos
Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...
declared this area a Nature Sanctuary, a special designation of the Chilean state, granting it additional environmental and non-developmental protection. The Conservation Land Trust (a U.S. environmental foundation) donated these protected lands to Fundación Pumalín (a Chilean foundation), for their administration and continual development as a type of National Park with public access under a private initiative. 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.
In March 2017, the Chilean president
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
announced that the government was accepting the gift of 1 million acres from Fundación Pumalín and creating a national park covering 11 million acres in all, the largest such park in South America. At a ceremony for signing of the accord between government and the foundation, Tompkins' long-term friend Yvon Chouinard claimed that “No other human has ever created this many acres of protected wildlands".
Corcovado National Park
Just to the south of Pumalin,
Corcovado National Park
Corcovado National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Corcovado) is a National Park on the Osa Peninsula, in Osa Canton, southwestern Costa Rica (9° North, 83° West), which is part of the Osa Conservation Area. It was established on 24 October 1975 ...
represents one of Tompkins's completed conservation projects. In 1994, The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), along with U.S. philanthropist Peter Buckley, acquired of native forest that was slated for logging, adjacent to vast areas of federal land under the jurisdiction of the
Chilean Armed Forces
The Chilean Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Chile) is the unified military organization comprising the Chilean Army, Air Force, and Navy. The President of Chile is the commander-in-chief of the military, and formulates policy through the Mi ...
. CLT offered to donate this parcel back to the Chilean state, provided that the whole area became a national park. In 2005, then-president
Ricardo Lagos
Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...
accepted this proposal, and the Corcovado National Park was born.
Iberá Project
The Iberá Project was a private conservation enterprise that was spearheaded by Tompkins, working with
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and Tompkins' Conservation Land Trust. Its goal was to strengthen protection and restore habitat and biodiversity in the
Iberá Wetlands
The Iberá Wetlands ( es, Esteros del Iberá, from Guaraní ''ý berá'': "bright water") are a mix of swamps, bogs, stagnant lakes, lagoons, natural slough, and courses of water in the center and center-north of the .
Iberá is one of the mos ...
in
Corrientes Province
Corrientes (, ‘currents’ or ‘streams’; gn, Taragui), officially the Province of Corrientes ( es, Provincia de Corrientes; gn, Taragüí Tetãmini) is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by (fr ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
Iberá Provincial Reserve
The Iberá Provincial Reserve ( es, Reserva Provincial Iberá, from Guaraní ''ý berá'': "bright water") is a provincial protected area in the north-west of Corrientes Province, north-eastern Argentina. Established on 15 April 1983, it contains ...
, established in 1983, encompasses 1,300,000 ha of wetlands, grasslands, forest, and rangelands, including both publicly-owned lands and private cattle ranches. The Iberá project advocated for enhanced protection of government-owned floodplain lands, and in 2009 the provincial government created Iberá Provincial Park on 553,000 hectares of public land in the reserve.Zamboni, Talía, Sebastián Di Martino, and Ignacio Jiménez-Pérez (2017). "A review of a multispecies reintroduction to restore a large ecosystem: The Iberá Rewilding Program (Argentina)". ''Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation'' Volume 15, Issue 4, October–December 2017, Pages 248-256.
Led by Tompkins, the Conservation Land Trust acquired 150,000 hectares of old cattle ranches bordering the provincial park, including habitats not then represented in the park. Most cattle and internal fences were removed, and a land management program was developed to restore native vegetation and habitat."The Iberá Wetlands: Argentina’s Preeminent Wildlife Reserve". Conservation Finance Network. Accessed 19 July 2020 /ref> In December 2015 the Trust donated these lands, including espinal, malezal
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
s, and forests, to the Argentine government to create a strictly-conserved national park to be called the Great Iberá Park. The proposed park, which would total 700,000 hectares, would be the largest national park in Argentina and home to hundreds of bird species, giant anteaters, and macaw parrots. 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
Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
". In 2018 the Argentine government created Iberá National Park from the donated lands, while the provincial park is administered separately.
In 2007 the Conservation Land Trust established a
rewilding
Rewilding may refer to:
*Rewilding (conservation biology), the return of habitats to a natural state
**Rewilding Europe
Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organisation based in Nijmegen, Netherlands, working to create rewilded landscapes through ...
program to reintroduce native species which had been extirpated from the wetlands during the 20th century.
Giant anteater
The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecophag ...
(''Myrmecophaga tridactyla''),
collared peccary
The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ...
(''Peccary tajacu''),
South American tapir
The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' (Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushco ...
(''Tapirus terrestris''),
pampas deer
The Pampas deer (''Ozotoceros bezoarticus'') is a species of deer that live in the grasslands of South America at low elevations.Geist, Valerius. Deer of the world their evolution, behaviour, and ecology'. Mechanicsburg, Pa: Stackpole Books, 1998 ...
(''Ozotoceros bezoarticus''), and
red-and-green macaw
The red-and-green macaw (''Ara chloropterus''), also known as the green-winged macaw, is a large, mostly-red macaw of the genus ''Ara''.
This is the largest of the genus ''Ara'', widespread in the forests and woodlands of northern and central ...
(''Ara chloropterus'') have been reintroduced to the wild, and a captive breeding program for
jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
s (''Panthera onca'') was created to support eventual reintroduction of jaguars to the parks.
Other conservation projects
Other conservation projects that Tompkins spearheaded include:
* The
Melimoyu
Melimoyu is a stratovolcano (Mapudungun ''meli''="four"; the name means "four breasts".) in Chile. It is an elongated volcanic complex that contains two nested calderas of and width. An ice cap has developed on the volcano with a couple of out ...
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, 200 km and 300 km respectively south of Pumalín Park
* The Yendegaia project in Chile's
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...
*
Patagonia Park
Patagonia National Park (Spanish: Parque Patagonia) is a National Park in the Aysén Region of Chile, once a private nature reserve operated as a public-access park, it was donated to the government of Chile by Tompkins Conservation in 2018.
Th ...
Cochrane, Chile
Cochrane is a Chilean town and commune in Capitán Prat Province of the Aisén Region. According to the 2002 census it has a population of 2,867. The urban population in 2002 was 2,217 and the rural population was 650.
Cochrane was founded in 195 ...
and 800 km south of Pumalín Park
Organic agriculture
Envisioning "conservation as a consequence of production," Tompkins developed models of sustainable
organic farming
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...
, which maintain
soil health
Soil health is a state of a soil meeting its range of ecosystem functions as appropriate to its environment. In more colloquial terms, the health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong ...
and ecological integrity at the same time that they provide for families and support the local economy.
In the area around Pumalin, the Hornopiren, Vodudahue, Ventisquero, Pillan, and Reñihué farms serve as exemplars of small-scale ecological agriculture and as informal park ranger stations. Each of these farms produces a variety of products, including sheep, cattle, honey, berries, and organic vegetables. A small facility in the Pillan farm processes honey and berries for jams, which are sold under the name Pillan Organics.
In northeastern Argentina, Tompkins managed cattle ranches in
Corrientes Province
Corrientes (, ‘currents’ or ‘streams’; gn, Taragui), officially the Province of Corrientes ( es, Provincia de Corrientes; gn, Taragüí Tetãmini) is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by (fr ...
and
polyculture
In agriculture, polyculture is the practice of growing more than one crop species in the same space, at the same time. In doing this, polyculture attempts to mimic the diversity of natural ecosystems. Polyculture is the opposite of monoculture, i ...
grain and fruit farms in
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east.
Its capital is Paraná ( ...
. Each farm pays close attention to developing sustainable practices.
Environmental activism
Through the Foundation for Deep Ecology, Tompkins published a series of large-format, activist photograph books on environmental issues, including:
* ''Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry'' (ed. Bill Devall, 1993, )
* ''Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture'' (ed. Andrew Kimbrell, 2002, )
* ''Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West'' (eds. George Weurthner and Mollie Yoneko Madison, 2002, )
* ''Wildfire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy'' (ed. George Weurthner, 2006, )
In addition, The Foundation for Deep Ecology had a long history as a grant-maker in categories such as Biodiversity and Wilderness, Ecological Agriculture, and Megatechnology and Economic Globalization, although in-house publishing is now its main focus.
Tompkins also was involved in several large environmental campaigns in Chile and Argentina, such as the "
Patagonia Sin Represas The phrase Patagonia Sin Represas means Patagonia without dams. It's the slogan of people and groups who opposed the 2008 HidroAysénhydroelectric dam project in Chile's Aysén Region. The Aysén region is the XI region in Chile, home to Chile's po ...
" campaign, which opposed the construction of dams on two of the largest and wildest rivers in the Patagonia region of Chile.
Honors
Tompkins' environmental work won him respect and accolades outside of South America: in 2012, the
African Rainforest Conservancy
The African Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), works to conserve and restore African rainforests, particularly focusing on the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania located about southeast of Mount Kilimanjaro. These lush mountains are among the oldest ...
awarded Tompkins and his wife its "New Species Award"; in 2007, the
International Conservation Caucus Foundation
The International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) educational foundation based in Washington, D.C. ICCF's stated mission is "to advance U.S. leadership in international conservation through public and private pa ...
awarded its "Good Steward" award to him and his wife, Kris; in 2008, the
American Alpine Club
The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...
awarded him the David R. Brower Award, for his work preserving mountain regions; in 2009,
Latin Trade
''Latin Trade'' is a monthly magazine covering global business in Latin America and the Caribbean. Similar to Forbes and Fortune Magazine in coverage, the magazine was founded in 1993 and now publishes 40,000 copies every two months in Spanish ...
named him the "Environmental Leader of the Year".
In 2007, he was appointed as an honorary member of the
American Society of Landscape Architects
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship ...
, in recognition of his work restoring damaged landscapes. ''Eco Barons'',
Edward Humes
Edward Humes is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and non-fiction writer.
Biography
Humes was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and attended Hampshire College.
In 1989 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Specialized Reporting, Pul ...
' 2009 account of the "dreamers, schemers, and millionaires who are saving our planet," uses Tompkins as the first example of this new group of philanthropists.
In Brazil, the environmentalist Douglas Tompkins was specially honored during the celebrations of 30 years of the Society for the Protection of Wildlife with the video “A Natureza do Brasil” with images of Haroldo Pallo Júnior and the Brazilian pianist Salete Chiamulera.
Death
On December 8, 2015, Tompkins was
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, philanthropist and outdoor industry businessman. His company, Patagonia, is known for its commitment to protecting the environment.
Chouinard is also a surf ...
) on
General Carrera Lake
General Carrera Lake (Chilean part, officially renamed in 1959) or Lake Buenos Aires (Argentine part) is a lake located in Patagonia and shared by Argentina and Chile. Both names are internationally accepted, while the autochthonous name of the ...
in southern Chile when strong waves caused their kayaks to capsize. Tompkins spent a "considerable amount of time" in waters.
He was flown, by helicopter, to a hospital in nearby
Coyhaique
Coyhaique (), also spelled Coihaique in Patagonia, is the capital city of both the Coyhaique Province and the Aysén Region of Chile. Founded by settlers in 1929, it is a young city. Until the twentieth century, Chile showed little interest in ex ...
, where he died hours later from severe
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
. He was 72 years old and survived by his second wife, Kristine (McDivitt), two daughters, brother and mother.
Tompkins is buried at a small cemetery near the Lodge at Valle Chacabuco in Parque Patagonia.