Famous, well-renowned underwater photographer, and expert dive equipment specialist, Bob Hollis died on Jan 04, 2023, at the age of 86, in Salt lake city, Utah surrounding his family.
Hollis was a risk taker and made his own diving equipment while he was learning Scuba diving. He was the manufacturer at Hollis, and the founder of the known brands, Oceanic and Aeris.
A brief History of his early Age!
Hollis was born on 27, April 1937 in Orland, California. He started learning Scuba diving at the age of 18 in 1955. Diving gave him immense pleasure and his learning turned into professionalism. He was learning the business and mechanical engineering at that time and in his leisure time hunted for fish and discovered underwater creatures. He made his own diving equipment.
With the help of other photographers in California. He successfully made his own camera house in 1958 and with the help of his uncountable passion he made his own diving equipment. Later, he founded a dive shop at the end of 1966 through which he sells cameras along with diving equipment.
Hollis was disappointed with the underwater photography equipment available at that time, so with hard work and dedication he developed his own, He made Anchor Shack and other diving products.
The list of products included camera and strobe housings, trays, ball-joint arms, and other necessary accessories. His own Hydro 35 technology helped Nikon and Canon cameras.
Oceanic Worldwide
When he built his company Oceanic in California in 1972. He added all his products and the company got a boost in days. Hollis and his co-workers faced hard times when the company burnt out right after 2 years of its establishment. Hollis was a man of strong nerves; he started mass production of plastic while the company was rebuilding. This plastic was used for several products: lenses, cases, and frames of masks.
Gradually, He became a giant of Scuba. In 1976 his company Oceanic bought Farallon, which was providing Scuba Masks, Snorkels, and BCDs, and then they launched the first dive computer in 1989 with the help of Hollis strategies.
Underwater Saurations System
Hollis played a major role in developing the underwater saturation system, which enabled extended diving on the 70m-deep for Andrea Doria in the north Atlantic in 1978. As the only diver to dive on the wreck at the time, he photographed underwater for Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter in 1981, a documentary film about the safe’s recovery.
Bob Hollis visited
The diving enthusiast Hollis led some of the early dives in the Galapagos and, in the Caribbean, the Caribbean islands of Cozumel and Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, and the Bahamas.
The diving and travel experiences he enjoyed sharing with his extended family were said to be very fulfilling – he had four children, nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren – as he went to remote Papua New Guinea where he built a home and dive resort.
Finally
There is no doubt Bob Hollis’s inventions and contributions to Scuba diving can never be forgotten. He helped the diving community by developing camera housing, underwater cameras, Anchor Shack, and other products which was the need of the era. If you love and admit Bob Hollis contribution. Please, share your valuable feedback about him.
“Bob’s contributions to diving have made exploring the oceans safer and more enjoyable for millions worldwide,” stated the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame,