Burt Shavitz, co-founder of Burt's Bees, dies at 80


Burt Shavitz, the co-founder of Burt's Bees whose face appeared on the company's packaging, has died. He was 80.
"We remember him as a bearded, free-spirited Maine man, a beekeeper, a wisecracker, a lover of golden retrievers and his land," the company said on its Facebook page. "Above all, he taught us to never lose sight of our relationship with nature." Shavitz co-founded Burt's Bees in 1984 with Roxanne Quimby, an art school graduate he met while hitchhiking. Quimby used his beeswax to make candles that she sold at fairs, and during their first year in business, the company earned $20,000, NBC News reports. Their most famous product, lip balm, was introduced in 1991.
The cause of Shavitz's death has not been announced.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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