Mike DeGruy, the internationally respected and unanimously liked documentarian of underwater nature films who called Santa Barbara home, died today in a helicopter crash in Australia just before 4 p.m. local time. He had just turned 60 years old at the end of December, and leaves behind his wife and two children.
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Mike DeGruy
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Photographs of Mike DeGruy, who died in a helicopter crash this weekend, from various SBIFF events.
In charge of curating the “Reel Nature” sidebar of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for the past decade, DeGruy was missing his first film fest in nine years, according to his Twitter page (twitter.com/mvdegruy). He was in Australia to work on his next project, and was slated to continue working sometime next week in Papau New Guinea. The crash, which also killed a pilot from Melbourne, occurred near the town of Nowra on the New South Wales coast, according to an article in The Age. [UPDATE: According to an associate who emailed the newspaper, the pilot's name was Andrew Wight, a longtime production partner of director James Cameron. See his considerable credits here.] It happened during take-off, but the cause is still under investigation. Read that full report here.
Roger Durling, the executive director of the film festival, called DeGruy “one of my best friends” said he was “heartbroken” by the news. “The Santa Barbara Film Festival has lost one of our family members: Mike DeGruy, underwater filmmaker and curator of the Reel Nature series and the force behind Field Trip to the movies,” said Durling. “Our thoughts are with his wife Mimi and his children. His enthusiasm and sense of adventure inspired all of us at SBIFF. Knowing him well, he would have wanted us to carry on today enjoying and celebrating movies.”
You can read more about Mike DeGruy’s extraordinary life here.
There will be a memorial service in his memory on Sunday, February 12, 3:30 p.m. in the rotunda of Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort on Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara.
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Comments
What a great spirit , a great energy.
I will miss seeing the shirts,the hair and the smile.
Good voyage.
This will be a hard day wondering the streets of SB for the Festival. But a good life has a light- a way of penetrating everyone around it. We will be in that light today I hope.
Peaceful blessings to those close to him and his family.
emenzies (Elizabeth Menzies)
February 4, 2012 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I went to school with Mike starting in 2nd grade. I have not seen him in probably 30 years. It is a tribute to his incredible, fun-loving spirit that I still remember him vividly and am deeply saddened to learn of his death. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
Katherine Armbrecht Zarzour
Mobile, AL
kazarzour (anonymous profile)
February 4, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This just plain sucks.
italiansurg (anonymous profile)
February 4, 2012 at 2:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
A few of us were together tonight and had a toasted to Mike. We all new him in grade school and high school. Mike was a very special person and we are all saddened that he is no longer on this earth. We will not forget him and the difference that he made.
Thinking of you and your family,
Jim and Martha Fuchs
baygirl03 (anonymous profile)
February 4, 2012 at 8:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Terribly sad news. Thank you for your work in helping us all to further see the world around us. Condolences to the family.
Draxor (anonymous profile)
February 6, 2012 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)