PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The reclusive beekeeper who co-founded Burt’s Bees, and whose face and wild beard appeared on labels for the natural cosmetics, died on Sunday. Burt Shavitz was 80.
A spokeswoman for Burt’s Bees said in an emailed statement Shavtiz died of respiratory complications in Bangor, Maine, surrounded by family and friends.
Shavitz was a hippie making a living by selling honey when his life was altered by a chance encounter with a hitchhiking Roxanne Quimby. She was a single mother and a back-to-the-lander who impressed Shavitz with her ingenuity and self-sufficiency.
In the 1980s she began making products from his beeswax, and they became partners.
The business partnership ended after Quimby moved the company to North Carolina in 1994. The company continued to expand, but Shavitz moved back to Maine. He has said he was forced out after having an affair with an employee. In 2007, Clorox purchased Burt’s Bees for $925 million.
“Burt was an enigma; my mentor and my muse. I am deeply saddened,” Quimby told The Associated Press in an email.
Shavitz received an undisclosed settlement — and 37 acres in remote corner of Maine. He also continued to make appearances on behalf of the company.
Shavitz on his property in rural Parkman, Maine in 2014.
“What I have in this situation is no regret,” he said last year while sitting in a rocking chair in his home in Parkman. “The bottom line is she’s got her world and I’ve got mine, and we let it go at that.”
Though he is known for being a character from the backwoods of Maine, Shavitz grew up around New York, served in the Army in Germany and shot photos for Time-Life before leaving the city.
He tried leaving Maine once before, spending a winter on a warm island, but was drawn back to the state. He was also the subject of a documentary, “Burt’s Buzz.”
Shavitz immortalized on Burt’s Bees product packaging.
“Burt was a complex man who sought a simple life in pace with the seasons of nature on his land,” the company said in a statement. “If there is one thing we will remember from Burt’s life, in our fast-paced, high-tech culture, it’s to never lose sight of our relationship with nature.”
In recent years, Shavitz lived in a cluttered house with no running water. A converted turkey coop that used to be his home remained on his property. He liked passing the time by watching wildlife.
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Sad to hear he’s gone. Worse part of this story…they sold the company to Clorox. I had no idea. Clorox? Ughh. That some weird synergy. Its hardly an environmentally friendly or back-to-the-land type company.
Capitalism at it’s best. Cute marketing for mediocre products, and then you charge a lot. Only in America!
Never knew this guy existed until I saw the documentary a year or so ago. Quirky, fascinating individual to say the least.
I have to disagree with your mediocre products claim, I use them, I like them, and they work for me.
A story too common, I’m afraid. It’s sentiment echoed in The Road To Hell–after a certain level of success, the success has to be sustained and that becomes the mission instead of whatever the original mission was.
An All-Day IPA will help you with your disappointment in the American way.