I was greatly saddened by the loss of Lad Handelman, who passed away as a result of a heart attack on the evening of October 26, 2020. Though most people knew him as one of the larger-than-life giants and pioneers of commercial oilfield diving, few knew that he was a key advisor for my magazine aquaCORPS: The Journal for Technical Diving and the tek.Conferences in the early 1990s.
I met Max for the first time over 20 years ago – in the domestic terminal of Port Moresby airport where we were waiting to board a flight to Kimbe Bay. The trip leader introduced him as “this is Max, he’s the owner of Walindi” which was where we were going to.
My first impressions turned out to be pretty accurate… before me was a man who would look you straight in the eye and quickly understand your intent - no BS with Max, he seemed to be able to read you like a book!
He had been battling multiple myeloma since 2010.
The family of Dr Richard Vann wishes to thank everyone for their tremendous outpouring of love for such a wonderful man.
Dick was a beloved husband, father, colleague and friend and we will all miss him dearly
Dick Vann's family have confirmed that in accordance with his wishes, his ashes will be scattered in Maine, where his parents and grandparents are interred.
A report on social media stated that the 55-year-old diver was ascending from a 91.5m (300ft) solo rebreather dive in Bonaire, and was found unresponsive on the reef at 24m (80ft) with the loop out of her mouth. (It is not known whether she had planned to dive to that depth or not). She was brought to the surface and medivaced. She did not regain consciousness. It is thought that all of her equipment was recovered. Her Inspiration rebreather head has already been downloaded for analysis. At the time of writing this piece, it is not known what happened.
Alan was a friendly colleague who loved being outside and talking to anyone. As a child, he developed the skill of always finding something of common interest to discuss with anyone he met, and he carried this through into his adult life. Alan was able to strike up a conversation about anything with anyone. Alan learned to scuba dive in 1970 when he joined the Leicester Underwater Exploration Club. Two years later, he became a commercial diver—a high-risk career in the early '70s—with his "office" primarily being the North Sea exploration rigs.
Lee Selisky was an adventurous cold-water wreck diver who recognised that divers needed a range of lead weights, hence he founded 'Sea Pearls'.
We've lost an industry icon. Cathryn Castle, Publisher
Selisky started his company in a garage and used his plastics moulding and die-casting knowledge to develop a range of products that included coated and uncoated lead weights and softer bags of shot lead. He manufactured lead in different shapes and colours.
Her pioneering work in marine conservation and shark behaviour helped to reveal that sharks were not the stupid and vicious animals they were reputed to be. Though she also did research on fish, her main focus was to improve the public image of sharks.
She began her research in the 1950s, and her fascination with the marine world inspired her to find ways of conducting research underwater. She was one of the first to do so while using SCUBA, and also made over seventy deep dives using a submersible, into the deep ocean.
Mrs. Hass was much more than the wife of Hans Hass, one of the greatest dive pioneers, underwater explorer and one of the last great naturalists of the last century; she was a pioneer, role model and trailblazer in her own right.
