test dummy for new products. In 1986, they released the Bugaboo, a jacket with a zip out lining which became quite trendy and further propelled the company's growth. Columbia was unique among specialty clothing manufacturers in that it would sell its products to any retail shop or chain. In 1987, Columbia had $18.8 million in sales and by 1997 it had grown to $353.5 million. The company went public in 1998. She stepped down as company president in 1988, handing the reins to her son Tim, but remained chairman of the board. Philanthropy In 1995, Boyle outfitted the Special Olympics Team USA for the World Games. She donated the royalties from her autobiography One Tough Mother to the Special Olympics and Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. In 2010, she endowed the Hildegard Lamfrom Chair in Basic Science in association with the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University with $2.5 million which honors her sister, Hildegard, a pioneering molecular biologist who died from a brain tumor in 1984. In 2014, Boyle donated $100 million to the Knight Cancer Institute. Personal life In 1948, she married Joseph Cornelius "Neal" Boyle, an Irish American from Pennsylvania whom she met in college, at All Saints Church in Portland, Oregon. She converted to her husband's Catholic faith. They had three children: Timothy Boyle (born 1949); Kathy Boyle (born 1952); and Sally Boyle (born 1958). In 2013, her son Tim was the CEO of Columbia; Kathy is an artist and real estate saleswoman and Sally is the co-owner of Moonstruck Chocolates, an upscale chocolatier. Her husband, Neal, died in 1970, and she never remarried. In 2010, she was tied up at gunpoint by an armed robber in her home in West Linn, Oregon. She was able to trigger a silent alarm which alerted police, and the robber was later captured. Boyle died in an assisted living facility in Portland on November 3, 2019, at age 95. Cause of death was not disclosed by the company spokesman who announced the news. Awards and honors 1992 Inc. Magazine’s Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year 1998 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement 2003 The National Sporting Goods Association Hall of Fame 2018 ISPO Cup References External links 1924 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople American people of German-Jewish descent American retail chief executives American women business executives