PORTLAND, OR — It’s just days short of exactly nine years ago. Gert Boyle was returning home when she was greeted by a stranger bearing a box he said was a gift. He also had a copy of Boyle’s autobiography, “One Tough Mother.”

He told her the gift was for her and that he wanted her to autograph the book.

Boyle had been having a love-hate relationship with the moniker for more than 25 years at that point. It started when Columbia Sportswear, the company she had led since 1970, started an ad campaign centered on her and built around that theme.

“I really did not like it a first,” Boyle would say later. “The thing is, I can never really escape it, so might as well embrace it.”

That really never happened more than that night in November 2010. She went into the garage with the man even though she felt something was up. She quickly realized she was right. He pulled a gun, said he wanted money and jewelry, roughed her up.

She was 87 years old that night.

Boyle told him she’d have to turn off the alarm so that he could get into the house. After she appeared to do that, he tied her up and went in the house. Boyle hadn’t turned off the alarm, she’d tripped the silent alarm to summon the police.

It did not take them long to arrive and all was good — until the police chief got there. He was wearing a jacket made by North Face, one of Columbia’s biggest competitors.

“I just wanted to know how you’re doing,” the chief asked Boyle.

“I was good ’til you showed up in that,” she told him. She wasn’t entirely joking.

On Sunday morning, Columbia announced that Boyle — its “matriarch” — had died. She was 95.

“Our ‘One Tough Mother’ held many jobs at Columbia, from seamstress of the first fishing vest to President to advertising icon,” the company said in a statement. “Her sharp wit and wisdom helped propel the company from near bankruptcy in the early ’70s to the global multi-brand company it is today, with annual net sales of almost $3 billion in 2018.

“Her pioneering role as a woman in what was then a male-dominated industry is a testament to her strength of character and ability to persevere through difficult situations.”

Refugee To Business Leader

Boyle was born Gertrude Lamfrom in Germany in 1924. Her dad ran the largest shirt factory in the country. Her mother was a nurse who served in World War I.

They had a good life until the Nazis rose to power. “Jews live here,” was written on their home. The family’s factory was seized.

In 1937, she fled Germany with her parents. Other family members were not as fortunate and would be killed by the Nazis.

Gert and her parents joined an uncle in Portland. Her dad bought a hat factory and renamed it the Columbia Hat Factory.

After graduating from high school in Portland, she went to the University of Arizona. where she would meet and fall in love with Neal Boyle.

He would return with her to Portland and go to work for her dad at Columbia.

Gert would stay at home and raise their family, while still paying attention to the company.

In 1964, Gert’s dad died, Neal took over and she went to work helping him slowly build the company.

One of their moves was to expand from hats to outdoor wear, capitalizing on Portland’s location along the Columbia River and halfway between the Pacific and Mount Hood, an 11,000-foot mountain. With lakes, woods, camping, and all kinds of hikes drawing people, it would be regarded as a brilliant decision.

Gert would design and sew the company’s first fishing vest.

Six years later, she would be thrust into leadership when Neal died suddenly at age 47.

Building An Empire

For the next 28 years, Boyle served as Columbia’s president, dedicating much of her energy to pushing the company to innovate.

It was a successful decision that led to such moves as becoming the first company to make Gore-tex jackets as well as the company that developed the Bugaboo coat, which has a lining that zips out.

Under Boyle’s leadership, Columbia also made bold marketing moves. including becoming a leading supplier of outerwear to television news stations and, unlike other specialty clothing stores that only sold through their own outlets, Columbia sold to other retailers as well.

When Boyle took over the company after her husband’s death, Columbia had about $500,000 in sales. She was offered $1,400 for it. The past couple of years, they have topped $2 billion in sales.

Boyle was worth around $1 billion when she died.

She Gave

Boyle was a firm believer in community, which led to many acts of charity over the years.

She donated more than $100 billion to the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Sciences University, including endowing a chair named for her sister, a medical researcher who died from cancer.

She also donated large and small, from community projects around Oregon to outfitting Team USA for the Special Olympics World Games.

Boyle said that among the keys to her success were being honest and recognizing her place in the world around her.

“An important thing I learned early was to admit when I didn’t know something,” she would tell a reporter. “If I didn’t know, I’d ask.”

That led to another realization for her.

“I knew if I didn’t know something, there would be someone who did,” she said. “That made me realize we’re in this together, the more we help each other, the more we grow as a community.”

In its statement, Columbia says that instead of flowers, Boyle would like people to donate to the Knight Cancer Institute. They also said that they plan to announce plans soon for a celebration of Boyle’s life.

She is survived by three children and five grandchildren.

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