L. L. Bean's Leon A. Gorman dies at 80

Leon A. Gorman, who transformed L. L. Bean from his grandfather’s folksy store and catalog business into a billion-dollar global outdoor-gear retailer
and made its signature rubber-soled hunting boot as synonymous with Maine as lobster, died on Thursday at his home in Yarmouth, Me.
The cause was cancer, the company said.

Mr. Gorman joined Bean, a family-owned company, as an $80-a-week treasurer in 1961 and became its president in 1967 after the death of his grandfather, Leon Leonwood Bean, the founder.
He held that post for 34 years, then served as chairman for 12 years before retiring in 2013 with the title chairman emeritus.
He was succeeded as president and chief executive by Christopher J. McCormick and as chairman by Shawn Gorman, his nephew.

One of Maine’s richest residents, Mr. Gorman still lived in the same house in Yarmouth in which he was raised.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/business/leon-a-gorman-ll-bean-chief-dies-at-80.html