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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
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