Ron Josiah Taylor, AM (8 March 1934 – 9 September 2012) was a prominent Australian shark expert, as is his wife, Valerie May Taylor née Heighes, AM (born 9 November 1935). Their expertise has been called upon for films such as Jaws, Orca and Sky Pirates.

Biography

Ron began diving in 1952, become interested in spearfishing and underwater photography and in 1965, he won the World Spearfishing Championship in Tahiti after winning the Australian Open Spearfishing Championships for four years in succession. Valerie was born in Sydney, started diving in 1956 and spearfishing in 1960, eventually winning several Australian championships for ladies in both spearfishing and scuba. The couple met while both were members of the St George Spearfishing Club in Sydney. They became champion spearfishers, but switched from killing sharks to filming them after becoming fascinated with marine life. They married in December 1963 at Hurstville, N.S.W., and had no children. They made their living in the 1960s by making wet suits and selling underwater cameras, plus doing artwork for magazines. The Taylors were credited with being pioneers in several areas — the first people to film great white sharks without the protection of a cage or anything else during the making of the (released on video) series Blue Wilderness in January 1992, a huge milestone in ocean exploration together with South Africans George Askew and Piet van der Walt, founders of the South African great white shark cage diving industry. They also filmed the shark sequences for the film Orca. The Taylors were also the first to film sharks by night.

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