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Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter passed away last night at the age of 65.
He emailed his staff this month saying his testicular cancer had returned. He had been diagnosed in 2011 but after several months of therapy had been given a clean bill of health.
Burton Carpenter founded Burton Snowboards out of his Vermont barn back in 1977, and has dedicated his life to snowboarding ever since. He was considered as a kind of ‘Godfather of snowboarding’, as the New York Times had called him in an article in 2015. Since 1983 he ran the company together with his wife Donna Carpenter making Burton one of the leading names worldwide in snowboarding. Carpenter brought the snowboard to the masses and helped turn the sport into a billion-dollar business.
Not only was he known for being passionate about his sports and building up the brand, but from an early stage on also implemented sustainable production ethics. Just recently Burton as the first snowboarding company has reached the standards to be certified as B Corp.
On the Burton Instagram account his team just paid him farewell: “It is with a very heavy heart that we share that Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter passed away peacefully last night surrounded by his family and loved ones as a result of complications from recurring cancer. He was our founder, the soul of snowboarding, the one who gave us the sport we all love so much. #RideonJake”
