Terry Kohler, 82

Kohler, Wisc.

Terry Kohler, who discovered a love for sailing as a boy aboard his mother’s Alden-designed schooner Venturer, died Sept. 20 at his home. He dedicated himself to making the sport more technologically advanced as well as more accessible to sailors of all abilities, all from a sleepy blue-collar town on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Kohler bought North Sails from its founder, Lowell North, in 1984, and immediately set about advancing the technology of sailmaking. Under his guidance, North Sails created the 3D molded sailmaking system, the standard in high-performance sails today. He also added additional companies under the North Marine Group umbrella, including Southern Spars and Edgewater Powerboats. He sold North Sails in 2014.

He joined the Sea Scouts and, as a teenager, joined the crew of Sheboygan businessman Romy Brotz’s 87-foot M-Class Sabre, one of the most exciting boats on the lake at that time. In 1973, he bought his first boat, a Cal 40 named Agapé, which he campaigned on the Great Lakes. A Tartan 44, also named Agapé, followed in 1975 to race the Two-Ton World Championship on Lake St. Clair. By 1978, Kohler had set his sights on the Canada’s Cup and sailed his Holland-design Two-Tonner Agapé for Bayview Yacht Club, losing the match to Don Green’s Evergreen sailing for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. Kohler competed in the Southern Ocean Racing Conference in 1984 with Ted Hood’s Robin Too II, renamed Agapé Too II.