Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American businessman,
conservationist, outdoorsman,
philanthropist, 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 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 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 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. He graduated from
Indian Mountain School, 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, 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,
backpacks, and
mountaineering 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 band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...
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 g ...
, 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 g ...
in 1968. They put up a new route on Mount Fitzroy, and - together with filmmaker Lito Tejada-Flores, who also made the ascent - made an adventure film, ''Mountain of Storms'', about their experience. 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), and The Conservation Land Trust 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 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 dic ...
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 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 dic ...
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 high ...
, and Tompkins' Conservation Land Trust. Its goal was to strengthen protection and restore habitat and biodiversity in the Iberá Wetlands 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, 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 grasslands, 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 fund ...
". 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 (''Tapirus terrestris''), pampas deer (''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 jaguars (''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 ...
and Isla Magdalena conservation projects in coastal 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 ...
* Patagonia Park, formerly known as Estancia Valle Chacabuco, 30 minutes north of Cochrane, Chile 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 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" 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 awarded Tompkins and his wife its "New Species Award"; in 2007, the International Conservation Caucus Foundation awarded its "Good Steward" award to him and his wife, Kris; in 2008, the American Alpine Club awarded him the David R. Brower Award, for his work preserving mountain regions; in 2009, Latin Trade 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' 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 with five others (including Patagonia, Inc. founder 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 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 ...
. 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.
References
External links
Tompkins Conservation
*
Spanish Language BBC interview
''Rebel With A Cause – Doug Tompkins' quest to save the wilderness'' (film by DreamTeam medienproduktion, arte, WDR, NDR, 2010)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tompkins, Douglas
American chief executives of fashion industry companies
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1943 births
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Nature conservation in Argentina
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People from Conneaut, Ohio
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