Peter Benchley wrote Jaws in 1974. It was his first novel, and it turned out to be a huge hit, selling 20 million copies and quickly becoming a feature film, which you may have heard of. Benchley's Jaws wasn't merely a “huge hit,” however: it launched the concept of both the “beach novel” and the “summer movie blockbuster.” Further, it catapulted Steven Spielberg and Roy Scheider to fame.  Simultaneously, it sparked a global fear of sharks that still hasn’t relaxed. Sadly, Benchley passed away at his Princeton home on Saturday, February 11, after suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 65.

After deciding to write Jaws, just to see if he could do it, Benchley’s career skyrocketed. Although none of his successive works captured the critical or popular acclaim of Jaws, he became something of an authority on sharks and the ocean, and he endeavored to change people’s perceptions of sharks as man-eaters. In 2002, Benchley told National Geographic, "Every time you get into the water with a Great White, you feel completely insignificant… When you see a 2,000- or 3,000-pound animal swimming up and considering whether or not you're edible, it's quite a humbling experience." For all his fame, Benchley sometimes still felt small.

Amazingly, despite his enthusiasm for swimming with sharks, Benchley was afraid of flying.