Columbia Sportswear CEO Pushes Back On Trump, Invokes Family History of Fleeing Nazis

"We have faced a religious test in the past and will never support one."

By Nigel Jaquiss
Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle

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Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle today sent an internal message to employees in response to President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration.

Like other CEOs including Nike's Mark Parker and the leaders of Intel and Apple among many other corporations, Boyle rejected the president's implicit message of religious discrimination.

For Boyle, as he explained to employees, the image of religious discrimination is personal. His mother, Columbia Chairwoman Gert Boyle, and her family fled Nazi Germany and ended up in Oregon.

"It should not be necessary in 2017 to say that we at Columbia do not judge people based on their religious beliefs, nor should it be controversial for us to say it," Boyle wrote. "We have faced a religious test in the past and will never support one."

Here's his entire statement:

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Nigel Jaquiss

Nigel Jaquiss

Reporter Nigel Jaquiss joined the Oregon Journalism project in 2025 after 27 years at Willamette Week.

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