By James R. Hagerty Nov. 5, 2019 4:01 pm ET Gert Boyle took charge of her family business, Columbia Sportswear, in 1970 when her husband died of a heart attack. She and her college-age son, Tim Boyle, lacked business experience and nearly ran the business into the ground over the next few years.
Other Obituaries The ads made an obscure brand famous. In one, she displayed a bicep tattoo reading “Born to Nag.” Another described her as “obsessive, anal, fanatical. And that’s on a good day.” A third advised: “If you want something that mellows with age, drink wine.” The family lived comfortably in a four-story house with three maids, but her parents decided to flee Germany “as Adolf Hitler’s plans for Jews like us became clear,” Ms. Boyle wrote in her book, “One Tough Mother.” Relatives in the U.S. helped arrange a move to Portland, Ore., in 1937, when Gert was 13. Her maternal grandmother stayed in Germany and died in a concentration camp.
On a whim, Gert chose to enroll at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she earned a degree in sociology. At a fraternity party, where she confessed she had drunk so much that she had trouble standing up, she met her future husband, Neal Boyle, an Irish Catholic. They married in 1948. Ms. Boyle served as president, even though some bankers suggested she let a man run the company. After deciding not to sell Columbia, she and her son began taking advice from more experienced business people, including Ronald E. Nelson, an early Nike Inc. executive who is now on Columbia’s board. The Boyles fired unproductive employees and weeded out products that didn’t sell briskly.
This is a quintessential American life! God Bless Gert Boyle, keep & protect her Soul!
God bless this woman. RIP.
She will be missed. One incredibly strong woman ❤️
الحين يعرف اخوه من صديقه اشرح:'''-'_-
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