At his home in Princeton, New Jersey, Benchley succumbed on 11 February reportedly to the effects of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease involving scarring of the lungs.
Benchley’s lifetime perceptions of sharks stand as a classic example of how attitude can be changed through understanding. Following publication of Jaws, the resulting movie was, arguably, the most damaging to the reputation of the great white shark in cinema history.
But in the years following the movie’s release, Benchley turned from doom-monger to truth-seeker. He became a champion of conservation and a greater understanding of sharks – including the top-of-the-food-chain great white.
Over the past 30 years Benchley has backed campaigns and made programmes promoting an appreciation of sharks in marine evolution; why, despite sporadic attacks on humans, they should not be regarded as an enemy of man; and why it would be wrong to allow populations of the creatures to be threatened by deliberate, or accidental but avoidable, fishing.
Benchley continued to understand why sharks are a favourite with film makers. 'Sharks make the perfect villain for a horror movie,” he told Diver magazine in 2000. “Few people know anything about them. You can be scared to death in the cinema but sleep soundly at home in the knowledge that no shark will climb the stairs to get you.'
But his own position was illustrated only last year when, to mark the movie Jaws’ 30th anniversary, he published a children’s book, Shark Life, with US publisher Delacorte Books. In it Benchley aimed to paint an accurate picture of the lives of many types of shark, and their relationships with man.
He was realistic about the threats that sharks can, at certain times in certain places, pose to humans. But he went on to describe how best to avoid potential trouble - and that, if this is done, the threat becomes miniscule.
Fatal shark attacks worldwide number in the tens each year, compared to the millions – possibly billions - of times a human enters the sea as swimmer, snorkeller, surfer or diver.
Benchley is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren.
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