Bill Kimpton dies at age 65

Bill Kimtpon, founder of Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, died March 30, 2001 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston of complications related to leukemia. He battled the disease since July 2000.

"Bill transformed the industry," says Thomas W. La Tour, Kimpton CEO. With the

purchase of Kimpton's first hotel in 1981, the Bedford in San Francisco, Kimpton began what would become one of the most distinct trends in lodging during the last part of the 20th Century: the boutique hotel. Kimpton harbored the beliefa belief ultimately vindicated-that the average consumer was frustrated by the lack of distinction in moderately-priced hotels. He believed there was a market for smaller, European-style hotels in America.

Kimpton, who graduated from Northwestern University and served time in the U.S. Army, began his professional life as a salesman for IBM.