![jack o neill and family surf jack o neill and family surf](https://www.eastbaytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/05djackoneill21.jpg)
In a tribute, O'Neill USA's Instagram page said: "Surrounded by family, Jack was as soulful and encouraging as always, reiterating his love for his family, appreciation for a life well lived, his hopes for his friends and the oceans he loved, all within the familiarity of his oceanfront home of over 50 years, with the famous waves of his beloved Pleasure Point beach lapping at his deck. Jack O’Neill, surfer, ocean lover, boating enthusiast, wetsuit pioneer, balloonist, and founder of the iconic worldwide surf company O’Neill, has passed away in Santa Cruz, California, of natural causes at the age of 94.
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He was quoted as saying: "The ocean is alive and we've got to take care of it". The programme has allowed nearly 100,000 schoolchildren to travel in his own catamaran to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to learn about marine conservation. He threw his surfboards in it, hanging out the back, the whole thing. It was the only car that he really had, that he really drove around. In San Francisco he opened one of the area’s first surf shops but in 1959 moved his growing family 75 miles (120km) south to Santa Cruz, where he opened his second shop to cater to the city’s. His brand was popular across the world, and his son would eventually take over control of the business, but his proudest achievement was O'Neill Sea Odyssey, which he founded in 1996. According to his son, Pat O’Neill, a surf industry legend in his own right, Jack purchased his first XK140 at some point in the mid-1960s. ONeill surfed in Santa Cruz back in the day when wetsuits didn’t exist. The slogan O'Neill came up with for his wetsuits 'It's always summer on the inside.' Today that statement couldn't be more true. In that shop was where O'Neill marketed what he called the 'Short John', the first wetsuit made specifically for surfing. 12 of 20 13 of 20 Surf industry pioneer, Jack O'Neill greets Louanne Korver, a local artist, who stopped by for a visit at his cliff-side home in Santa Cruz, Ca., on Saturday April 28, 2012. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's death confirmed through 'multiple sources' and no DNA proof needed, US saysīut by the 1980s, he was the world's largest recreation wetsuit maker and designer. Thank Jack ONeill for making surfing twice as much fun as it used to be. The O'Neill family still has the original copyright on the 'Surf Shop' name.