SURFING icon Jack O'Neill, the man who invented the wetsuit, has died aged 94.
O'Neill died peacefully of natural causes on Friday at his home in Santa Cruz, California, his family confirmed in a statement.
The pioneer, who began wearing an an eye-patch after his surfboard hit his left eye while riding a wave, moved with his wife to San Francisco's Ocean Beach neighbourhood in the early 1950s.
Wishing to surf longer in the cold Northern California ocean, he began experimenting with materials until he invented the first neoprene wetsuit.
O'Neill said at the time his friends didn't have much faith in his invention.
According to his family, he would reminisce: "All my friends said, 'O'Neill, you will sell to five friends on the beach and then you will be out of business."
He opened a surf shop in San Francisco but in 1959 moved his growing family 75 miles south to Santa Cruz, where he opened a second shop.
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By the 1980s, O'Neill was the world's largest recreation wetsuit producer - with the O'Neill surf reaching the likes of Australia, Europe and Japan.
He also founded O'Neill Sea Odyssey, a marine and environmental education programme for children in 1996.
The programme has taken nearly 100,000 schoolchildren in his personal Team O'Neill catamaran to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to learn about the ocean.
Speaking about the programme, he said: "The ocean is alive and we've got to take care of it.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the O'Neil Sea Odyssey is the best thing I've ever done."
Close friend Richard Novak, founder of skateboard manufacturer NHS Inc, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel: "He was a great man and even greater friend,"
"He’s going to be missed.”
O'Neill is survived by his six children.
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