01.22.19
Brandon Truaxe, the founder of Canadian skin care company Deciem, has died at the age of 40, the firm announced in an Instagram post. A cause of death was not announced. Truaxe launched the brand, best known for its affordable skincare line The Ordinary, in Toronto in 2013. Since then it has since expanded worldwide, with stores in the US, the UK, South Korea, Australia, Mexico and the Netherlands.
In October, Truaxe was forced out of the company he founded by The Estée Lauder Companies, which had acquired a minority stake in Deciem. Last year, Truaxe started gaining negative publicity when he began posting bizarre and troubling messages on the company’s Instagram. Estée Lauder, a minority investor in the company, took legal action against Truaxe in October after he posted on Instagram that the company should immediately be shut down because of “financial crimes” he said had been committed. According to reports, an attorney for The Estée Lauder Companies told a judge that Truaxe “has essentially lit the company on fire."
The judge removed Truaxe as CEO, and appointed Nicola Kilner as acting CEO (Kilner had previously been co-CEO before Truaxe fired her, but she had been recently reinstated at the company). A few days later, a judge issued a restraining order against Truaxe after the founder sent emails to Estée Lauder Chair Emeritus Leonard Lauder and other executives that were viewed as threatening.
In October, Truaxe was forced out of the company he founded by The Estée Lauder Companies, which had acquired a minority stake in Deciem. Last year, Truaxe started gaining negative publicity when he began posting bizarre and troubling messages on the company’s Instagram. Estée Lauder, a minority investor in the company, took legal action against Truaxe in October after he posted on Instagram that the company should immediately be shut down because of “financial crimes” he said had been committed. According to reports, an attorney for The Estée Lauder Companies told a judge that Truaxe “has essentially lit the company on fire."
The judge removed Truaxe as CEO, and appointed Nicola Kilner as acting CEO (Kilner had previously been co-CEO before Truaxe fired her, but she had been recently reinstated at the company). A few days later, a judge issued a restraining order against Truaxe after the founder sent emails to Estée Lauder Chair Emeritus Leonard Lauder and other executives that were viewed as threatening.