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Burt Shavitz, Burt's Bees co-founder, dies of respiratory complication

By Katherine Biek
July 6, 2015

A co-founder of the natural cosmetics company Burt's Bees died Sunday.

A company spokeswoman told USA Today that Burt Shavitz died of a respiratory complication. He was 80 years old.

Shavitz teamed up with Roxanne Quimby to co-found Burt's Bees in 1984. They started off selling candles made from beeswax before expanding into beauty products in the early 1990s.

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Clorox ended up purchasing the company for $925 million in 2007.

After the acquisition, Shavitz was still featured in plenty of videos on Burt's Bees' social media accounts.

He was also the subject of a 2013 documentary called "Burt's Buzz."

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"It wasn't as if I'd summoned these bees down or gone looking for them. It was an act of God. I mean, it was a no-brainer."

A statement was placed on the Burt's Bees website Sunday, which reads in part, "We remember [Shavitz] as a bearded, free-spirited Maine man, a beekeeper, a wisecracker, a lover of golden retrievers and his land. Above all, he taught us to never lose sight of our relationship with nature."

This video includes images from Getty Images.

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Katherine Biek

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