"Peter Benchley, 65, the author and conservationist who wrote "Jaws," the shark-attack novel that became a classic movie and provided a nation with thrills, chills and recurring nightmares, died Feb. 11 at his Princeton, N.J., home. A relative said he died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs."

"The son and grandson of writers, and a writer himself since age 16, Mr. Benchley drew for his novel on lore he had learned as a boy on Nantucket, south of Cape Cod, Mass., and from years of musings over a report he had once read about the appearance off Long Island of a 4,550-pound great white shark. He asked himself, he said, not so much what did happen but what could happen if such a predator emerged from the deep"

-I'll NEVER forget the effect his first book and then movie had on people in the late 70's. Benchley became a conservationist, particularily campaigning against killing sharks soley for their fins in Sharks Fin soup. RIP

PS: was in Victoria BC in '74, JAWS was my first 'date' movie and yes, we DID go to the beach the following weekend Where were you or what impact did the Jaws phenom have on you?

RIP Mr. Benchley.

Your legacy will live in shitstained pants for years to come.

Halleluhah! It's now safe to go back in the water.....

RIP Mr Benchley... bad novel, bad!

I remember my mom taking us to see the movie at the drive-in and some time afterwards to Miami Fla.

Swimming in the ocean just wasn't what I had hoped it would be.