Columbia Sportswear's Gert Boyle Foils Robbery Attempt

Gert Boyle has long been known as "One Tough Mother." After foiling an armed robbery and kidnapping attempt at her home, the chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear now has another story to back it up.

The 86-year-old Boyle reportedly pulled into her driveway in West Linn, Ore., on Wednesday when a man posing as a delivery man approached her, pulled out a gun and ordered her inside the house. Boyle had to turn off the alarm to enter, and while doing so, tripped a silent panic button that alerted local police of the intrusion.

Local police arrived to find Boyle's hands bound, while the robber had escaped and fled toward a ravine. Hours later at a nearby McDonald's, an officer saw a man with a scratched face trying to clean himself. Police eventually booked the man, who identified himself as Nestor G. Caballero, on charges of burglary, robbery and kidnapping.

Sgt. Neil Hennelly said Boyle noticed that the burglar was wearing a rival North Face jacket and asked her how she was doing after the incident. Ever the dedicated entrepreneur, Boyle reportedly responded, "I was doing fine until that jacket walked through the door."

The alleged burglar perhaps should have known not to mess with Boyle, who took over Columbia in 1970 after her husband died of a heart attack. (The company was founded by Boyle's parents, Paul and Marie Lamfrom, in 1938.) For years, Columbia's ad campaign depicted Boyle testing products on her son Tim in extreme situations while she flexed her biceps, which were tattooed with the words "Born to Nag."