NBC News – Burt Shavitz, the bearded beekeeper who was the iconic face of the body products company he co-founded in 1984, Burt's Bees, has died. He was 80 years old.
"We remember him as a bearded, free-spirited Maine man, a beekeeper, a wisecracker, a lover of golden retrievers and his land," the company wrote in a post on its website.
Recommended Videos
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
It is with broken hearts that we must convey the saddest news: Burt Shavitz, our co-founder and namesake, has left for...
Posted by Burt's Bees on Sunday, July 5, 2015
It was unclear how Shavitz died.
Shavitz co-founded the company with Roxanne Quimby, an art school graduate from Massachusetts who moved to Maine in 1975. In 1984, after meeting Shavitz while hitchhiking, she used his beeswax to produce candles that she sold at craft fairs. In its first year, Burt's Bees earned $20,000. Seven years later, the company introduced its best-known product — lip balm — and quickly expanded.
Three years later, Quimby moved Burt's Bees from Maine to North Carolina, and in 2003, she sold 80 percent of it to an investor group for $170 million.