Asheville Zen Tubing owner Heath White dies; remembered as 'steward' of French Broad River

ASHEVILLE - Heath White, founder and owner of Zen Tubing, one of the biggest names in outdoor recreation in Western North Carolina, died Dec. 11 from heart transplant complications two weeks after surgery. He was 54.

White and his wife and business partner, Jennifer "Jen" Ditzler, were the forces behind Asheville's first tubing outfitter.

Ditzler, co-owner of Zen, died two years earlier, in February 2021, of cancer after "two courageous battles with the disease," beginning in 2017, according to previous Citizen Times reporting. She was 48.

White, an Asheville native, grew up on the water. What would follow was a lifetime spent encouraging others to do the same — a steward of the French Broad River in a time before flotillas of vibrant tubes were a common sight drifting around the lazy bends that traverse the city's River Arts District.

Zen Tubing started as a missing niche, the Citizen Times previously reported, as White and Ditzler watched the river rebound from its industrial pollution days, fish and wildlife returning, artist studios opening along its bank, a desire to get out on the water renewed.

Aubrey Anderson, White's sister, told the Citizen Times that his love for the river began in the early '70s, days spent kayaking and canoeing down the French Broad with their father. It grew into a passion for whitewater and outdoor adventure. He worked as a raft guide across the country for several years and in 2000, White started Huck Finn Rafting in Hot Springs, a commercial rafting venture, which closed before Zen's opening.

"He's run every river in this area, and bigger rivers out west," Anderson said. Even though she didn't share the same thrill for whitewater, “I trusted Heath."

"He took me down many rivers. We went down the Nantahala together, we went down the Ocoee, we went down the Nolichucky. He was great. He was just such a natural on the water. You just felt totally at ease, totally comfortable with him," Anderson said.

In March, White set out to do The Great Loop, a year-long, nearly 6,000 mile journey through the Eastern United States and Canada's interconnected water passages. He purchased a 43-foot trawler, dubbed "Innertube," and started in the Florida Keys, traveling north up the Intracoastal Waterway and along the East Coast, and west to the Great Lakes.

Anderson said he made it a little over halfway before health concerns drew him home in October. He spent the summer on Lake Michigan, and "thoroughly enjoyed each step of the way."

"That was one of his dreams," said Karin Von Dohlen, general manager of Zen Tubing. It was a "great adventure for him," she said. "A way for him to share his passion and love for the outdoors and water," from Asheville, the French Broad and beyond.

White had a congenital heart defect his entire life, Anderson said. When he embarked on The Great Loop, he had a left ventricular assist device, or "LVAD," an artificial pump implanted in the chest. It was always intended to be a bridge to a transplant, she said.

When White came home to Asheville in October, he was hospitalized at Mission before being transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina, where he had the transplant in late November. Anderson said he never regained consciousness after surgery.

"The minute he got his heart, he wanted to get back on The Great Loop," she said. "He lived life to the fullest."

'Larger than life'

White and Ditzler launched Zen Tubing in 2012. They first met 20 years ago when he was a raft guide, on a whitewater trip down the French Broad River in Hot Springs. Ditzler was on a solo day adventure while on a business trip in Charlotte. She lived in Houston at the time.

The two fell in love on the river, took up a long-distance relationship, got married in 2008, took many multiday trips down the big rivers of the West like the Green in Utah and the Grand Canyon’s Colorado, then opened what was to become the wildly popular Zen Tubing rental and river shuttle business.

It began in Bent Creek, near where White grew up, and later expanded to two locations, with one in "midtown" on Riverside Drive, where the iconic mascot, a meditating green frog atop an innertube, is visible from the roadway.

Von Dohlen remembers the first time they met a decade before. She and her husband Ray, who is now the operations manager at Zen Tubing, were bringing White their resumes. He pulled up to the midtown location in a "great old truck" filled to the brim with ramps from a trip out to Avery County.

Talking to him, he was "super down to earth." After the conversation, he offered them ramps, "and I was like, 'I'm going to love this guy.'"

“His goal was to make the French Broad River accessible to anyone," regardless of age or barrier. At Zen, they have people tubing with them in their 90s, she said. It's "such a great lazy river experience."

He was "larger than life," she said, a comment echoed by Anderson. “If you’ve lived in Asheville for any length of time, you probably know who he is.”

For White and Ditzler, Zen was about more than getting people on the river to go tubing, Von Dohlen said — "It's about educating people about why this river is such a great resource."

White was involved with RiverLink, the Western North Carolina Alliance and Asheville GreenWorks, according to his obituary. Zen Tubing is a longtime sponsor of GreenWorks' Trash Trout, a device set up on Hominy Creek to catch debris before it can enter the French Broad River.

More: Asheville GreenWorks' Haw Creek Trash Trout replaced after thieves destroyed one

He also loved cars, Anderson said, specifically VWs. He founded Volkswagen Revival, a cruise event for charity, which donates all proceeds to Black Mountain Home for Children.

“He was bigger than life, he really was,“ Anderson said. "He was a big personality and so many people really loved him. He’s definitely going to be missed.”

When she thinks about him, Von Dohlen said she remembers one of White's favorite sayings: “You have to finish one before you start another."

"Whether that’s a job, a season, a vacation, a drink. Before you can start another one, you’ve got to finish what you’ve got," she said. It might be something he would say at the end of tubing's all-too-brief seasons: don't mourn the ending of this one. Another will begin next year.

A Celebration of Life Service is scheduled for 2 p.m., Dec. 27 at Glory Tabernacle Church on Sweeten Creek Road. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Black Mountain Children's Home at www.blackmountainhome.org.

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Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville Zen Tubing owner Heath White dies steward of French Broad