Jack O'Neill, the eye-patch wearing wetsuit pioneer who trail-blazed coldwater surfing, has died, friends confirmed to KSBW Friday. He was 94.

SANTA CRUZ — Jack O’Neill, a giant in the surfing world who invented the wetsuit, is dead. O’Neill died Friday morning surrounded by family and friends, said Dan Haifley, executive director ...

Jack O’Neill suits up in the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor before windsurfing off Santa Cruz, August 5, 1982. Inventor of the wetsuit and surfing world icon, O’Neill died Friday at 94.

SANTA CRUZ — Jack O’Neill, a giant in the surfing world who invented the wetsuit, is dead. O’Neill died Friday morning surrounded by family and friends, said Dan Haifley, executive director ...

In this August 5, 1982 photo, Jack O'Neill suits up in the small craft harbor before windsurfing off Santa Cruz, Calif. A California surfing world icon who pioneered the wetsuit has died.

Santa Cruz, the former home of wetsuit pioneer Jack O’Neill, is losing one of its oldest surf shops. After 25 years of business, O’Neill is closing its downtown store on Pacific Avenue.

Jack O’Neill, a giant in the surfing industry and the man credited with inventing the surfer’s wetsuit, died Friday at his home near Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. He was 94.

Surfing legend and wetsuit pioneer Jack O’Neill will be honored with a paddleout at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz on Sunday that could be the largest paddleout in history.

O’Neill, who lived in Santa Cruz — where the wetsuit division of the surf company still operates — died Friday morning, June 2, of natural causes. He was 94.

SANTA CRUZ >> Thousands of people converged at Pleasure Point Sunday morning to witness what was expected to be the largest-ever paddle-out memorial, to honor Jack O’Neill, inventor of the ...

Article continues below this ad Surfers honored wetsuit pioneer Jack O'Neill with a paddleout Sunday at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz.