Gert Boyle

Gertrude Boyle (née Lammfromm; March 6, 1924 – November 3, 2019) was a German-born American businesswoman in the U.S. state of Oregon. After her family fled Nazi Germany, her father founded the business that would become Columbia Sportswear, where in 1970, she became company president. She remained president until 1988 and additionally, served as chairwoman of the company's board of directors from 1983[1] until her death in 2019. Starting in the 1980s, she appeared in a series of advertisements for Columbia Sportswear alongside her son Timothy Boyle, often humorously testing the quality and durability of their products. She was also a philanthropist and memoirist.

"Gertrude Boyle" redirects here. For the sculptor, see Gertrude Boyle Kanno.

Gertrude Boyle
Gert Boyle in 2013
Born
Gertrude Lammfromm

(1924-03-06)March 6, 1924
Augsburg, Germany
DiedNovember 3, 2019(2019-11-03) (aged 95)
Portland, Oregon
NationalityUnited States
EducationB.A. University of Arizona
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forChairwoman of Columbia Sportswear
Spouse(s)Neal Boyle (1948–1970, his death)
ChildrenTimothy Boyle
Kathy Boyle
Sally Boyle
Parent(s)Paul Lamfrom
Marie Lamfrom

Early life and education

Born Gertrude Lammfromm to a German Jewish family in Augsburg, Germany,[2] she was the daughter of Marie (née Epstein) and Paul Lamfrom. Her father owned the largest shirt factory in Germany[2] until it was seized.[1] Her mother was a nurse during World War I.[1] In 1937, when she was 13, her family fled Nazi Germany and immigrated to Portland, Oregon, in the United States;[2] her grandmother, who had remained in Germany, died in a concentration camp.[2] When the family arrived, she did not speak English.[1] In 1938, her father borrowed money from a relative and purchased the Rosenfeld Hat Company,[2] changing its name to the Columbia Hat Company[3] (after the river).[2] She attended Grant High School in Portland,[4] and later graduated with a B.A. in sociology from the University of Arizona.[2]

Career

In 1964, Boyle's father died and her husband, Neal Boyle, became president; her husband diversified the hat business[2] into outerwear for hunters, fishermen, and skiers.[1] In 1960, Gert Boyle designed the first fishing vest (her husband was an avid fisherman) and the name of the company was changed to Columbia Sportswear.[3] In 1970, her husband died unexpectedly at the age of 47 of a heart attack; she became president of the company, then with $800,000 in annual sales.[2] The company struggled and teetered on bankruptcy[5] until, in the 1970s, she and her son Timothy refocused the business on outdoor clothing and casual wear which paralleled a general trend away from formal work attire.[6] In 1975, they were the first company to introduce Gore-Tex parkas.[3]

In 1983, Boyle became chairman of Columbia's board of directors[1] (a position she ultimately retained for 36 years, until her death in 2019).

Boyle started starring in commercials for the company in 1984.[2] In the ads she stars as Ma Boyle, who is "One Tough Mother" and uses her son as a test dummy for new products.[7][8] In 1986, they released the Bugaboo, a jacket with a zip out lining which became quite trendy and further propelled the company's growth.[2] Columbia was unique among specialty clothing manufacturers in that it would sell its products to any retail shop or chain.[1] In 1987, Columbia had $18.8 million in sales and by 1997 it had grown to $353.5 million.[1] The company went public in 1998.[6]

She stepped down as company president in 1988, handing the reins to her son Tim, but remained chairman of the board.[1]

Philanthropy

In 1995, Boyle outfitted the Special Olympics Team USA for the World Games. She donated the royalties from her autobiography One Tough Mother to the Special Olympics and Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children.[1][8] In 2010, she endowed the Hildegard Lamfrom Chair in Basic Science in association with the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University with $2.5 million which honors her sister, Hildegard, who died from a brain tumor in 1984.[9] In 2014, Boyle donated $100 million to the Knight Cancer Institute.[10]

Personal life

In 1948, she married Joseph Cornelius "Neal" Boyle, an Irish American from Pennsylvania whom she met in college, at All Saints Church in Portland, Oregon.[1] Gert Boyle converted to her husband's Catholic faith.[1] They had three children: Timothy Boyle (born 1949); Kathy Boyle (born 1952); and Sally Boyle (born 1958).[2] As of 2013, her son Tim was the CEO of Columbia;[11] Kathy is an artist and real estate saleswoman, and Sally is the co-owner of Moonstruck Chocolates, an upscale chocolatier.[8] Her husband Neal died in 1970, and she never remarried.[12]

In 2010, she was tied up at gunpoint by an armed robber in her home in West Linn, Oregon.[13] She was able to trigger a silent alarm which alerted police, and the robber was later captured.[13]

Boyle died in an assisted living facility in Portland on November 3, 2019, at age 95.[14] Cause of death was not disclosed by the company spokesman who announced the news.[15]

gollark: Well, do you have any suggestions‽‽‽‽
gollark: ħæħæħæħæħæno
gollark: Well, yes, but it is roughly what stuff does now.
gollark: Encouraging conformity and such?
gollark: Allowing parents to dump children somewhere while they work?

References
  1. Accettola, Anna (October 16, 2012). Wadhwani, R. Daniel (ed.). "Gertrude Boyle". Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present. German Historical Institute. 5. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  2. Whitford, David; Gert Boyle (September 1, 2003). "Gert Boyle, Columbia Sportswear Co". Fortune Small Business. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  3. "Columbia Milestones". About Us. Columbia Sportswear. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  4. Francis, Jamie (September 1, 2008). "Columbia Sportswear's Gert Boyle talks about her life and her company". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  5. Harriet Shapiro; Diane S. Lund (September 18, 1989). "Gert Boyle Has a Vested Interest in George Bush's Fishing Fortunes". People. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  6. Boyle, Gert (April 1, 2006). "How I Did It: Gert Boyle, chairman, Columbia Sportswear". Inc. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  7. Memmott, Mark (November 12, 2010). "Gert Boyle, Columbia Sportswear's 'One Tough Mother,' Foils Robber". the two-way. National Public Radio. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  8. Schwartz, Todd (Summer 2005). "Inventing Ma: Yes, an ad agency invented Columbia Sportswear's legendary Ma Boyle – but it was Life that made Gert Boyle '97 hon. one real Tough Mother". Portland magazine. University of Portland. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  9. "Columbia Sportswear's Boyle family, including 'One Tough Mother' herself, endow OHSU chair in cancer research". Oregon Health & Science University. April 19, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  10. Budnick, Nick (August 29, 2014). "The story behind Gert Boyle's $100-million gift for cancer research at Oregon Health & Science University". The Oregonian via OregonLive.com. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  11. Dill, Kathryn (November 8, 2013). "Columbia Sportswear Thrives, Lifting CEO Tim Boyle To Billionaire Ranks". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  12. Bowles, Nellie (November 6, 2019). "Gert Boyle, 95, Dies; Sportswear Chief Billed as 'One Tough Mother'". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  13. Bella, Rick (November 11, 2010). "Gert Boyle, the 'One Tough Mother' of Columbia Sportswear, outwits armed robber". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  14. Duin, Steve (November 3, 2019). "Gert Boyle, longtime Columbia Sportswear chairwoman, dies at 95". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  15. Associated Press, "‘Tough Mother’ Gert Boyle dies at 95," Corvallis Gazette-Times, vol. 157, no. 254 (Nov. 4, 2019), p. 1.
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