Burt’s Bees co-founder and namesake Burt Shavitz died Sunday, according to the company’s Facebook page. No information was given about the cause of his death.
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‘Above all, he taught us to never lose sight of our relationship with nature.
Shavitz is known for being a character from the backwoods of Maine, but he grew up around New York, served in the Army in Germany and shot photos for Time-Life before leaving the city. He also got to know such luminary artists and writers as photographer Diane Arbus, author Tom Wolfe, Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol and jazz musician Thelonius Monk.
At the time, Quimby was a graphic designer and single mother who had migrated to Maine from San Francisco.
“What I have in this situation is no regret”, he said past year while sitting in a rocking chair in his home in Parkman.
Shavitz left the city in 1970 for upstate New York, traveling with his Volkswagen van, motorcycle and other belongings.
Shavitz, a reclusive beekeeper, co-founded the company after a chance encounter with Roxanne Quimby, whom he picked up while hitchhiking in 1984.
He was also the subject of a 2013 documentary called “Burt’s Buzz”. When i n the 1980s she began making products from his beeswax, they became partners.
Often referred to as “The Bee Man”, Burt Shavitz started out selling honey at a roadside stand in Maine.
The partnership ended after Quimby moved the company to North Carolina in 1994. Burt’s Bees was sold in 2007 to Clorox for more than $900 million, making Shavitz akin to the McDonald brothers – the name of a small-town product mostly cut out of its enormous success.
Shavitz and his beloved golden retrievers lived in a rustic home in Parkman, which was heavily damaged by fire this February.
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[Meet Burt’s Bees co-founder – a passive-aggressive Zen master who missed out on millions].
