EL Estee Lauder Companies Inc

By Jacquie McNish and Jaewon Kang 

TORONTO -- Deciem founder Brandon Truaxe, whose erratic behavior led to his being stripped of his CEO role at the popular skin-care company, died on Sunday.

Officials at Toronto-based Deciem advised staff and others in emails Monday morning of his death, and no cause was given. He was 40.

Toronto police said they recovered a body Sunday afternoon after they received a call that someone had fallen from a condominium tower, which Mr. Truaxe recently identified in Instagram posts as his new home.

A police spokeswoman said it was against policy to provide any details, including identity, when there is an apparent suicide. There is no ongoing investigation, she said.

"Brandon Truaxe was a true genius, and we are incredibly saddened by the news of his passing," said a spokeswoman at Estée Lauder Co., which became a minority shareholder of Deciem in 2017. "As the visionary behind Deciem, he positively impacted millions of people around the world with his creativity, brilliance and innovation. This is a profound loss for us all."

Mr. Truaxe's death comes three months after an Ontario judge issued an order, citing his "increasingly aberrant and irrational behavior," to remove him as CEO of the company he founded in 2013. Mr. Truaxe's actions included firing the company's top executive and closing most of its roughly 30 stores. After he was replaced, the stores were reopened.

Mr. Truaxe was briefly hospitalized in mental-health facilities in London and Toronto last year, according to court documents. A lawyer who previously represented Mr. Truaxe declined to comment.

The judge restrained Mr. Truaxe from visiting Deciem stores or communicating with officials at Estée Lauder after he sent an email threatening harm to Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of the cosmetics giant.

While Mr. Truaxe drew a large social-media following, mostly on Instagram, for his steady stream of posts and photographs about skin products and his frequent travels, little is known about his personal history.

He described himself to some business associates as an Iranian. He started Deciem as a more natural and less expensive alternative to big-name beauty products through eliminating distributors and other middlemen.

Deciem expanded beyond Canada into the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere, as its affordable makeup and skin-care products developed a cult following.

Write to Jacquie McNish at Jacquie.McNish@wsj.com and Jaewon Kang at jaewon.kang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 21, 2019 18:05 ET (23:05 GMT)

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