Jack O'Neill (businessman)

O'Neill grew up in Oregon and southern California, where he began body surfing in the late 1930s. He was a Navy pilot during World War II.[3] O'Neill later moved to San Francisco in 1949 and earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts at San Francisco State University.[4]

In 1952, he founded the O'Neill brand while opening one of California's first surf shops in a garage on the Great Highway in San Francisco, close to his favorite bodysurfing break at the time.[2] This led to the establishment of a company that deals in wetsuits, surf gear, and clothing.[5] Jack O'Neill's name is attached to surfwear and his brand of surfing equipment.[6] Although O'Neill is widely believed to be the inventor of the wetsuit, an investigation concluded that UC Berkeley physicist Hugh Bradner was most likely the original inventor.[7]

In December 1996 he began a non-profit organization called O'Neill Sea Odyssey which provides students with hands-on lessons in marine biology and that teaches the relationship between the oceans and the environment.[8] It has hosted about 100,000 children since it started.[9]

He was married to Marjorie, who died in 1973, and they had six children.[4]

O'Neill resided on a beachfront property in Santa Cruz, California, from 1959 until his death on June 2, 2017.[10][11][12][13][14]

In 2002, O'Neill was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient for the Northern California Region.[15]

• Kampion, Drew (November 16, 2011). Jack O'Neill: It's Always Summer On the Inside. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1452102603.
• Ocean Odysseys: Jack O'Neill, Dan Haifley, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary