The Ocean Lost A Legend Today
My dear friend, colleague and beloved
mentor, Bill Lovin, passed away quietly in his sleep last night. The ravages of
Parkinson’s finally sent him on his last dive.
To say that Bill was one of the
most generous, kind and talented people I know would be an understatement. He
took me under his prodigious wing decades ago and we have been fast friends
ever since. He was always quick to share advice, equipment and work with a
young underwater filmmaker following in the steps of a man who was the first to
document on film the amazing shipwrecks lying off the North Carolina coast. He
introduced me to the big boys in the dive world and taught me that all food was
great but Mexican food was the best. Every Thanksgiving for 25 years he and Jovita
joined Cindy and I and our family for a raucous dinner and celebration.
In the dive community he is
legend. And my heart is broken.
In his last years Bill and Jovita
worked tirelessly to move his amazing underwater film library online. Oceanarchives.com (https://oceanarchives.com/) was their
gift to students and educators and is intended to be a free resource for all lovers
of our water planet going forward. Through his work, his legacy and his name, his
spirit will live with all of us who were touched by this amazing man and
friend.
Fair winds and following seas Bill . . . I will carry you
and Jovita with me always.
