Jack O'Neill (March 27, 1923 – June 2, 2017) was an American businessman and founder of the surfwear and surfboard company

O'Neill The O'Neill dynasty ( Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically one of the most prominent family of the Nor ...

Early life

O'Neill grew up in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and Southern California, where he began body surfing in the late 1930s. He was a Navy pilot during World War II. O'Neill later moved to San Francisco in 1949 and earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

Career

In 1952, he founded the

brand while opening one of California's first surf shops in a garage on the

Great Highway The Great Highway is a road located on the West Side of San Francisco that forms the city's western edge along the Pacific coast. Built in 1929, it runs for approximately next to Ocean Beach. Its southern end is at Skyline Boulevard ( Sta ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, close to his favorite bodysurfing break at the time. This led to the establishment of a company that deals in wetsuits, surf gear, and clothing. Jack O'Neill's name is attached to surfwear and his brand of surfing equipment. Although the invention of the wetsuit had often been attributed to O'Neill, he was not its inventor. An investigation concluded that

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

physicist

Hugh Bradner Hugh Bradner (November 5, 1915 – May 5, 2008) was an American physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving and sur ...

was the inventor of the wetsuit. In December 1996 he began a non-profit organization called

O'Neill Sea Odyssey O'Neill Sea Odyssey is an American non-profit organization located in Santa Cruz, California, Santa Cruz, California (California Non-Profit Corporation ID#77-0464784). It was founded in 1996 by wetsuit innovator Jack O'Neill (businessman), Jack ...

which provides students with hands-on lessons in

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

and that teaches the relationship between the oceans and the environment. It has hosted about 100,000 children since it started.

Personal life

He was married to Marjorie, who died in 1973, and they had six children. O'Neill resided on a beachfront property in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

, from 1959 until his death on June 2, 2017. 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 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Awards

In 2002, O'Neill was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient for the Northern California Region.Jack O'Neill Honored
''SURFER Magazine''. 27 June 2002.

Early life

Career

Personal life

Awards

References

Further reading