In Memoriam

Beneath the Sea owes its existence to the fertile creative mind of Armand “Zig” Zigahn. Zig made his mark in the scuba diving sports community as the Founder and Executive Director of Beneath the Sea the largest consumer ocean exposition, dive, and travel show in America. For over forty years, it was Zig's management of Beneath the Sea where he demonstrated the command leadership that created this legacy. In recent years, Zig had the assistance of his wife, JoAnn, as President managing the day-to-day operation of Beneath the Sea.

JoAnn married Zig, the founder of Beneath the Sea. Soon she realized she had married both Zig and Beneath the Sea. JoAnn’s caring created family-oriented programs at Beneath the Sea such as Ocean Pals, an ocean environmental art program that featured an international poster contest for grade school children, she often referred to the Ocean Pals Education by art poster contest as: “what we learn from our children.” In addition to her Ocean Pals program, she later created the Beneath the Sea Marine Careers program devoted to high school and college students seeking marine careers. JoAnn also created a Scholarship Program that would award funds to students interested in pursuing a career in the marine industry.

In Memoriam

Stan Waterman
April 5, 1923 - August 10, 2023

It is with deep sadness that Beneath the Sea takes note of the passing of one of its dearest friends, Stan Waterman. Stan was Beneath the Sea’s Diver of the Year for Arts in 1987 and our Legend of the Sea in 2007. Since the beginning, Stan led the cheering section helping Beneath the Sea grow in size and stature. Stan was an honored speaker each year, his presentations overflowing. For his 90th birthday, Beneath the Sea threw Stan a birthday bash, the room overflowing with the who’s who of the dive industry. Here at Beneath the Sea, everyone admired, trusted, and honored Stan, his ideas, talents, wit, grace, and charm. Everyone at Beneath Sea will miss his smile, his face lighting up when he saw you coming, then the honesty of his pleasure at that recognition. He was a man who gave all of us happy memories. He truly will be missed.

Perhaps Dan and Betty Orr best captured and defined the man:

Another legend in our world has passed. Another icon is gone. Another kind and gentle man has left us. Stan Waterman brought us closer to the underwater world through his stunning images and his eloquent presentations that described our world like no one else could.

To quote one of his favorite authors and his personal friend, Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.” The road Stan chose had a profound impact on our lives and truly made a difference in each of our lives.

The true measure of a man is not how much he loved during his lifetime but how much he was loved by others. By that measure alone, Stan Waterman was truly a great man. By every other measure, his time with us made a profound difference that changed our lives and our sport so much for the better. We will miss your smile, your eloquence, and the joy of being you brought to us all.

Stan Waterman’s biography:

“Stanton A. Waterman” (born 1923), is a five-time Emmy-winning cinematographer and underwater film producer.

Stan Waterman graduated from Dartmouth College, where he studied with Robert Frost, in 1946 with a degree in English. He began his SCUBA diving career in the Bahamas, where he owned and operated a diving charter business from 1954-1958. His big break came in 1965 when he filmed a year-long family trip to Tahiti. National Geographic purchased the rights to the work and showed it on television. He was a producer and photographer on the 1971 film Blue Water, White Death which was the first cinematic filming of the Great White Shark. Stan Waterman was the subject of a Discovery Channel biographical special titled The Man Who Loves Sharks. Working with his son, he won the first Father and Son Emmy for the National Geographic Explorer production, Dancing With Stingrays.