James Cameron Remembers Mike deGruy

The underwater world and the diving community have suffered a loss with the deaths of Mike deGruy and Andrew Wight, killed in a helicopter crash February 3 near Sydney, Australia.

Both men were divers of long experience and professionals in the media world, bringing the beauty and excitement of Planet Ocean to a global audience. deGruy was a documentary specialist whose work with Sir David Attenborough, James Cameron and National Geographic, to name a few, has been screened the world over. Similarly, Andrew Wight  had been a driving force behind many entertaining projects, recently as a writer and producer of the big screen cave diving feature film Sanctum.

Tributes quickly flooded the internet  and on February 12 hundreds of friends and family members gathered in Santa Barbara, California, to pay their respects at a service for deGruy in his hometown. Among the many who knew both men was DIVER Magazine Publisher Phil Nuytten, who worked with them both on projects that took them all to exotic dive locales in oceans warm and cold. Among others gathered to pay their last respects was Hollywood Director James Cameron, whose collaboration with both men included a project underway at the time of the helicopter accident. Cameron spoke at the service, offering a fine tribute that can be viewed above.

A video tribute from National Geographic can be found here.

Mike deGruy’s personal website can be found here and provides a tribute board where you can leave comments.

In a coming issue DIVER will recall the lives of Mike and Andrew and their many noteworthy achievements that have drawn attention to and championed the water world.