Burt Shavitz - the beekeeper and businessman best known as the face and founder of Burt's Bees - has passed away at the age of 80.
A spokesperson for the company said Shavitz was suffering from a respiratory illness and passed away at his home in Maine on Sunday, surrounded by family and friends.
The Burt's Bees website says Shavitz "has left for greener fields and wilder woods."
Born Ingram Shavitz in Manhattan in 1935, Burt changed his name and joined the Army after high school. He discovered photography while traveling the world, and his work appeared in Life and Time magazines.
He later settled in Maine and took up beekeeping. A woman named Roxanne Quimby began selling his beeswax candles at local fairs, and the two formally partnered up and launched a line of personal care products dubbed Burt's Bees in 1984.
Shavitz's remarkable life was the subject of an award-winning documentary entitled Burt's Buzz that was released in 2014.
Sadlty, Shavitz was forced out of Burt's Bees prior to its sale to Clorox for $900 million in 2007. Even so, the company paid loving tribute in a statement released today:
"We remember him as a bearded, free-spirited Maine man, a beekeeper, a wisecracker, a lover of golden retrievers and his land. Above all, he taught us to never lose sight of our relationship with nature. Thanks for everything, Burt. You will live in our hearts forever."
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