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.^[2] O'Neill later moved to San Francisco in 1949^[3] 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,^[5] close to his favorite bodysurfing break at the time.^[6] This led to the establishment of a company that deals in wetsuits, surf gear, and clothing.^[7] Jack O'Neill's name is attached to surfwear and his brand of surfing equipment.^[8] Although the invention of the wetsuit had often been attributed to O'Neill, he was not its inventor.^[9] An investigation concluded that UC Berkeley physicist Hugh Bradner was the inventor of the wetsuit.^[10][11]

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.^[12] It has hosted about 100,000 children since it started.^[13]

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.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

His granddaughter Uma O'Neill is a New Zealand-born equestrian rider, who represents that country and holds both New Zealand and American citizenships. She was selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[19]