Brandon Truaxe, the founder of Canadian skincare company Deciem, has died at the age of 40, the firm announced in an Instagram post.
Truaxe launched the brand, best known for its affordable skincare line "The Ordinary" in Toronto in 2013.
Deciem and its top brand the Ordinary were highly praised in the world of skin care, priding itself on pure, quality ingredients, clearly labelled, and offered at low prices.
The company reportedly made upward of $300 million in sales after launching The Ordinary, a skin care brand whose products cost mostly less than $10.
Within five years, Deciem had expanded to the point of operating 10 brands under the company's umbrella, with 30 stores open worldwide in cities such as Toronto and London.
However, despite being the founder Deciem, Truaxe was removed from his CEO position last October following increasingly erratic behavior that included several delusional posts to Deciem's and his own Instagram pages.
In the weekend leading up to his death, Truaxe had posted several videos in which he gave the address to his apartment and indicated he had been drinking to the point of intoxication.
The Estée Lauder Companies, an investor in Deciem since 2017, said in a statement: "Truaxe was a true genius, and we are incredibly saddened by the news of his passing ... he positively impacted millions of people around the world with his creativity, brilliance and innovation. This is a profound loss for us all."
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