By JERRY GOWEN and ASHLEY BAKER
Jacques Cousteau, a world renowned explorer, filmmaker, environmentalist and inventor who opened the world beneath the sea to millions of people through television, died Wednesday in Paris. He was 87.
A press statement from the Cousteau Foundation, which has recently handled all his business and personal affairs, announced his death.
'Jacques-Yves Cousteau has rejoined the World of Silence,' the foundation said, referring to one of his most famous documentaries.
The foundation did not divulge the cause of Cousteau's death, but said he had been ill for months.
Cousteau's life is highlighted by a 60-year-long odyssey with the Earth's seas -- much of it on his famous boat, the Calypso. He co-invented the Aqua-Lung, constructed a one-man, jet-propelled submarine and helped start the first manned undersea colonies.
Although Cousteau's name is synonymous with marine exploration, he was also one of the brightest personalities in France.
Cousteau became a household name primarily through his popular television series, 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau,' and many other documentaries he narrated.
'Anything I can say ... will fall short of what he has accomplished,' said Robert Simms, keeper of the Cousteau Society Homepage in an e-mail interview with The Universe. 'He raised the level of consciousness of the people of the world.'
Cousteau, who authored numerous books and films, spent his later years trying to teach the world to save itself.
'We're more aware today than ever before that we do make an impact on our environment and it matters to us in the end. He sort of held a mirror up to the world so we could see it from a different point of view,' Simms said.
After he led a 1972 voyage to Antarctica, a worldwide television audience saw for the first time the beauty of sculptured ice formations under the sea.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Cousteau called himself an 'oceanographic technician.' 'But he was also a romantic who once said that for him, water was the ultimate symbol of love,' the article said.
'The reason why I love the sea, I cannot explain,' Cousteau told the AP in an interview before his death. 'It's physical. ... When you dive, you begin to feel that you're an angel. It's a liberation of your weight.'
Divers who followed Cousteau's life expressed remorse over his death and said he had a tremendous effect on the environment and how people view the world.
'If you're underwater looking at trash being dumped into the ocean, you see things differently than if you're hovering above in a helicopter,' Simms said.
Local followers of Cousteau were also touched by Cousteau and his impact on the sport of scuba diving and the underwater world.
Jim Simons, one of the owners of Water World Divers, located in University Mall, said he and his brother have been teaching people how to scuba dive for the last 18 years.
'Scuba diving. He's really the guy that started it all,' Simons said. 'He was involved with the invention of the Aqua-Lung, which is the original underwater breathing apparatus. He's also been very involved in conserving the reefs and being very ecologically sound.'
Simons said Cousteau encouraged people to save the reefs and dive the reefs with a lot of care, trying to conserve the underwater marine life and appreciate it instead of destroying it.
'He helped the sport of scuba diving go from a tough-guy sport to more of a recreational sport. Scuba diving is now for 12-year-olds to old people like Jacques who dove till the day he died. With the new comfortable gear, he's helped make it the sport that it is today. He's probably the biggest name there is in scuba diving,' Simons said. 'He's a legend.'
Cousteau said not long before he died that he was proudest of helping to save Alaska, the Antarctic, the Amazon and of helping awaken the awareness of people all over the world.
'All these things have been hard won,' he said. 'And we did it and I'm proud of it.'
A tribute to Jacques Cousteau found on the Cousteau Homepage said he 'was a diver, inventor, commander, scientist, explorer, adventurer and conservationist. He has lived a full life. Today we are saddened to hear of the death of our hero ... But we are also happy because we know he lived as full and great a life as any human being can live. Our condolences go to all his family and friends.'