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B4 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019 Dave Killen/The Oregonian Gert Boyle, chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear, in her offi ce. Boyle, longtime chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear, dies at 95 “One Tough Mother,” when both were blitzed and parked under a table at a Sigma Nu frat party. When they realized they were equally Gert Boyle, the longtime chairwoman of compatible when sober, they married in 1948. Columbia Sportswear and the caustic star of Neal went to work for Gert’s father while she the most memorable advertising campaign in kept pace with their three children. outdoor apparel history, died Sunday morning Her world pivoted on the December morn- at the age of 95. ing in 1970 when Neal’s heart failed. “There would be no Columbia without Gert and Tim, a senior at the University of Gert Boyle,” said state Sen. Betsy Johnson Oregon, were suddenly charged with running D-Scappoose, a longtime friend. “Somewhere a family business they knew little about. along the line, Gert stopped being just another “It was the blind leading the blind, frankly,” smart, savvy, successful business person, and Tim Boyle says. “We both started fi ring peo- morphed into an Oregon icon.” ple who were critical. That probably wasn’t a A resilient, demanding, charismatic good idea.” woman in what was long an outdoorsman’s As the bad ideas piled up, sales plunged world, Boyle ran Columbia Sportswear from 30%. The bank threatened to withdraw 1970 to 1988, fi rmly establishing the compa- Columbia’s line of credit. Gert and Tim Boyle ny’s brand. were poised to sell the company until the Before her son, Tim, took charge as presi- potential buyer tried to nickel-and-dime her at dent and CEO, Gert inspired the 1984 ad cam- closing. paign, “One Tough Mother,” a catch phrase Gert cussed. Gert raged. Gert booted the that also graces her 2005 autobiography. putz from her offi ce. When her back was to “There are a lot of company leaders who the wall, Gert was at her least complicated, would like to have a book,” said Peter Brag- trusting in her chutzpah and stubborn resolve. don, Columbia Sportswear’s executive Columbia Sportswear had $600,000 in vice-president and general counsel. sales in 1971, the year following Neal Boyle’s “There aren’t a lot who have a story to tell.” death. It recorded net sales of $2.47 billion Boyle added to the legend at 87 when she in 2017. Gert’s shares in the company were foiled a dramatic 2010 invasion of her West worth nearly $900 million in 2018, making Linn home. her one of the wealthiest Oregonians. When a bush-league kidnapper followed “The world might never have known her Boyle into her garage with a copy of her book talents but for the fact that her husband died and an impressive replica handgun, demand- so young,” Brown says. “She never gave ing money, Boyle had the presence of mind to up. She represents what I think when I think insist she fi rst needed to disable her home-se- about Oregon: We are mavericks, innovators, curity system. creators.” Instead, she pressed the silent panic but- Boyle was the fi rst woman inducted into ton, summoning police. Boyle ended up with the Sporting Goods Association Hall of Fame, bruises and a bloody lip, but when West Linn’s but she wasn’t an early fan of Bill Borders’ police chief swung by to ask how she was far- brilliant “One Tough Mother” campaign. ing, Boyle said, “Everything was okay until She loved the spot where she drove a you came in with that North Face jacket.” Zamboni across a rink with her son encased Boyle spent her fi nal half century fi ght- in the ice below, but she wasn’t convinced a ing to outfi t everyone in Columbia Sports- male-dominated audience would appreciate wear gear, even if that meant posing with a glamour shots and such taglines as: Windwear jacket while her son, Tim, quipped: “My Mother Makes Combat Boots. “Unlike our chairman, it’s uncomplicated Overbearing tyrant. It has a nice ring to it. and lightweight.” She’ll gladly retire when hell freezes over, And not nearly as funny. “She put her heart but that’s when we’ll need her the most. on a plate and she had a wicked tongue,” said Hall-of-Fame moments, it turns out. All of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. ‘em.” When Boyle moved to Mirabella, the Port- She was too busy raising a family and res- land retirement community, following the kid- urrecting a Fortune 1000 company to obsess napping attempt, she forever groused about on gender, Boyle writes, but she discovered the age of the neighbors. “that some of the skills I Heck, Johnson says: learned as a mother and ‘THE WORLD MIGHT in running a household “She was the only per- son at the retirement very transferable NEVER HAVE KNOWN were home with a full-time to the work place — job.” She never quit skills like urging people HER TALENTS BUT going to work because to get along with each FOR THE FACT she knew it brought out other, and not spending the best in her. unless you have THAT HER HUSBAND money “I come in early,” it.” Boyle once said, “and Once she had it, DIED SO YOUNG. verbally abuse as many Boyle donated $100 SHE NEVER GAVE UP. million to the Knight people as I can fi nd.” Kerry Tymchuk, her Cancer Institute at Ore- SHE REPRESENTS autobiography’s co-au- gon Health & Science thor and the executive University. WHAT I THINK director of the Oregon “She threw down the WHEN I THINK Historical Society, was gloves on the big boys,” once driving Boyle and Johnson said. “I knew ABOUT OREGON: two friends — Antoi- she was thinking about WE ARE MAVERICKS, doing it anonymously, nette Hatfi eld and Kathy Duncan — downtown but she didn’t want War- INNOVATORS, when Boyle asked her ren Buffet getting credit companions if either for her $100 million CREATORS.’ had read, “Fifty Shades gift.” of Grey.” After Boyle, her Gov. Kate Brown Neither had identity leaked, came skimmed the erotic forward, OHSU schlock, so Boyle asked Tymchuk for a quick renamed a research center after her sister, bio- book review. In the hush that followed, Boyle chemist Hildegard Lamfrom, who died of quipped, “Hell, I’m 91. Can’t do it. Might as brain cancer. well read about it.” Dr. Brian Druker, director of the Knight Born in Augsburg, Germany, Boyle had Institute, said of Gert, “She told me she gave just turned 9 when Adolf Hitler came to power what she could, the same as thousands of oth- and Nazis scrawled “Jews live here” on the ers who contributed, and didn’t think she was wooden siding of the Lamfrom home. entitled to more praise than anyone else. Most of her family fl ed Germany in 1937. “She said, ‘I think if someone said to you, Six decades passed before Boyle could abide ‘Would you like to leave a legacy behind?’ a return. When a reporter asked if the Augs- what better way to help mankind?’ She has burg homecoming made her nostalgic, Boyle left a remarkable legacy in many, many ways, said, “Don’t you remember history? The last and we will miss her … but never forget her.” time I was here, people were trying to kill my Columbia said mourners could make a family.” donation to the Knight Institute in lieu of Several months after the Lamfroms arrived sending fl owers. in Portland, her father, a long-time cloth- The company also said it would announce ier, bought the Rosenfeld Hat Company and plans for a celebration of life in the coming changed its name to “Columbia Hat Com- days. pany.” After a tedious summer or two on the Boyle is survived by her son, Tim, and two hat-box assembly line, Boyle was delighted to daughters, Sally Bany and Kathy Deggendor- escape to the University of Arizona, where she fer; her younger sister, Eva Labby; fi ve grand- met her future husband, Neal. children; the 5,300 employees at Columbia They were introduced, Boyle concedes in Sportswear, and one star-struck Zamboni. By STEVE DUIN The Oregonian 11/8/19 11/8/19 11/8/19 11/8/19 11/8/19 Miracle-Ear Center Youngs Bay Plaza 173 S. Hwy 101 Warrenton, OR 97146 (503) 836-7921 Miracle- Ear Center 2505 Main Ave N, Suite C Tillamook, OR 97141 (503) 836-7926 USE CODE 19NovSink
