An investment banker turned marine conservationist, Shedd’s best-known project is a popular aquarium. With three fraternity brothers, in March, 1964 Shedd founded SeaWorld in San Diego, Calif. Home of “Shamu, the Killer Whale”, SeaWorld brought people close in to see marine life.
Shedd “loved being out, loved being a fisherman,” said Don Kent, president of the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, which Shedd founded in 1963. But, Kent adds, Shedd “always felt you needed to go a step beyond, to put fish back into the ocean and not always be a taker.” Shedd died from cancer May 24 at home in Newport Beach. He was 79.