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Burt Shavitz, the bearded face that graced the packaging of Burt's Bees lip balm, makeup, and skin care products, has died at 80, the Associated Press reports. He passed away in Bangor, Maine, surrounded by family and friends. The cause of death was respiratory complications.
Shavitz was a reclusive beekeeper living in Maine when he met a hitchhiker named Roxanne Quimby. She began making products from the beeswax he produced, and the company took off. They stopped working together once Quimby moved the company to North Carolina, and he says he was forced out after having an affair with a coworker. According to USA Today, he got an undisclosed sum of money, plus 37 acres of land in Maine, as part of a severance deal.
Clorox bought the company for a whopping $925 million in 2007, but Shavitz kept making promotional appearances on behalf of the product.
"Burt was a complex man who sought a simple life in pace with the seasons of nature on his land," Burt's Bees said in a statement." If there is one thing we will remember from Burt's life, in our fast-paced, hi-tech culture, it's to never lose sight of our relationship with nature."
Shavitz was the subject of a 2014 documentary, Burt's Buzz. In the film, he is shown struggling with the pressures of being famous, something he never sought for himself.
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