In 1968, Baldwin moved to Queensland, Australia’s Gold Coast and fell in love with the beach. He bought a business that supplied chairs and supplies for beach goers, and enjoyed the sun as much as they did, but he wanted to protect them from sunburn. So he devised a spray machine to quickly douse his customers with sunscreen. It’s estimated he sprayed down three million people to protect them from the sun.
He became known as “The Suntan Man” to beach regulars. “Everybody came to see Al,” said his longtime friend Sue Bowman. “Celebrities, media and tourists — everyone.” Baldwin died September 14 from lymph cancer at 74, after managing one last visit to the beach three days before.