Burt’s Bees Co-founder Burt Shavitz Dies at 80
BANGOR, Maine, July 6 (UPI) — Burt Shavitz, who co-founded natural cosmetics company Burt’s Bees, died Sunday in Bangor, Maine. He was 80.
“It is with broken hearts that we must convey the saddest news: Burt Shavitz, our co-founder and namesake, has left for greener fields and wilder woods,” Burt’s Bees said in a statement on its Facebook page.
Shavitz, whose bearded face represented the brand on its packaging, started Burt’s Bees in 1984 after meeting hitchhiker Roxanne Quimby. Quimby used wax from Shavitz’s beehives to make candles.
They capitalized on public interest in all-natural personal care products and introduced their best-selling product, lip balm, in 1991. Quimby eventually bought Shavitz’s share of the company — reportedly for less than $1 million. In 2007, Clorox acquired Burt’s Bees for $913 million.
Shavitz, who was born in Great Neck, N.Y., joined the army after college and became an army photographer in Germany. He worked as a photojournalist in New York City in the 1960s, when he contributed to Time and Life magazines, before moving to rural Maine.
Shavitz told the Bangor Daily News in 2014 that he left New York City after observing an elderly neighbor who never left her room.
“I realized if I stayed there long enough, I’d end up in the same boat, which is nothing I wanted to do,” he said at the time.
He turned instead to beekeeping and sustainable living in the countryside, selling honey from his bees out of his truck.
“We remember him as a bearded, free-spirited Maine man, a beekeeper, a wisecracker, a lover of golden retrievers and his land,” the company’s statement added. “Above all, he taught us to never lose sight of our relationship with nature.”
“Now it’s up to us, the brand he helped build — and you, his fans and advocates — to sustain his spirit and ideals. Thanks for everything, Burt. We’ll miss you.”
