Author Peter Benchley, best known for writing the best selling novel, 'Jaws' died Saturday at the age of 65. According to his widow, Wendy Benchley, the cause of death was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs which eventually results in death.
Benchley's novel and the subsequent film by Steven Spielberg made millions of people afraid to swim in the ocean. Despite the fact that his book caused millions to fear sharks, Benchley later became a vocal advocate for their protection.
Benchley graduated Harvard University in 1961 and later became a speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 60s. Wendy Benchley recalled that her husband had to write some very difficult speeches about the war in Vietnam. He also worked at 'Newsweek' and 'The Washington Post.'
Sharks were always fascinating to Benchley. He recalled first becoming interested in them in the mid-1960s when a fisherman caught a 4,550 pound great white shark of the coast of Long Island. That later became the setting for 'Jaws.'
'I thought to myself, `What would happen if one of those came around and wouldn't go away?'' Benchley told 'People' magazine in a 1974 interview.
'There was no particular influence,' Benchley added. 'My idea was to tell my first novel as a sort of long story ... just to see if I could do it. I had been a freelance writer since I was 16, and I sold things to various magazines and newspapers whenever I could.'
In addition to 'Jaws,' Benchley wrote best selling novels such as 'The Deep' and 'The Island.'
While writing was something Benchley enjoyed, Wendy said his conservation work with sharks was very important to him.
'He cared very much about sharks. He spent most of his life trying to explain to people that if you are in the ocean, you're in the shark's territory, so it behooves you to take precautions,' Wendy Benchley said.
Benchley served on the national council of Environmental Defense, hosted numerous television wildlife programs, gave speeches around the world and wrote articles for 'National Geographic' and other publications mostly about sharks.
Peter Benchley is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren. There will be a small family service near the Benchley's home in Princeton, New Jersey this coming week according to Wendy Benchley.
