Long Island Native Burt Shavitz, Cofounder Of Burt's Bees, Dies
PORTLAND, Maine (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Burt Shavitz, the cofounder of Burt's Bees Natural Cosmetics, has died at the age of 80.
A spokeswoman for the company said Shavitz, a native of Great Neck, Long Island, 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.
"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 also served in the Army in Germany and shot photos for Time-Life.
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."
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