Roxanne Quimby
Roxanne Quimby cofounded Burt's Bees body care company with beekeeper Burt Shavitz and grew the corporation into a successful multinational operation. Quimby became quite wealthy when she sold her shares in the company after several decades, and used her resources to acquire land all over the state of Maine. Over the past twenty years she and her family trust, the Elliotsville Foundation, have made significant donations of land to Acadia National Park, the Penobscot Nation, and other land conservation projects.
Quimby's most significant and well known donation is of 87,500 acres adjacent to Baxter State Park, which President Obama declared the new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Quimby undertook this land collection project because she was interested in building a national park from scratch. Her accumulation of land and donations to the federal government are somewhat controversial among local Maine communities, who would prefer land uses that support more rapid economic development in the region.
Quimby's family continues to own large tracts of land in Maine and donates to various conservation causes. Recently, the Elliotsville Foundation donated a 735 acre parcel to the Penobscot nation as part of a movment for indigenous land justice.
