Death of Paul Tzmoulis (sp?)

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Daniel Kessler - 17 Apr 2006 02:12 GMT

I don't recall any mention of it on this board...apparently occuring
back in 2003. I knew he had settled and spent his last years in Las
Vegas (of all places).

On the Jean-Michel Cousteau special on an excursion to the more remote
Hawaiian island chain extending as far as Midway and beyond, as seen
recentlly on TV, mention was made of a brief ceremony by the diving crew
when they set his creamted ashes into the sea near the conclusion of the
"show."

Well, I never met up with the guy, but he was quite a presence for many
years in the one-time diving magazine Skin Diver. He would go out and
dive the resorts and then write an article --always favorable of course
-- providing that the resort in question would place an ad in the
magazine. Otherwise, the likelihood of him writing up a resort
otherwise was extremely remote.

I know, its "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," as they say in Latin ...(say
only good things about the dead) and I don't want to sound churlish, but
you get the idea!!!

Let's look at it another way...his passion for diving may have aroused
others...and if it did -- that was a good thing.

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-hh - 18 Apr 2006 14:41 GMT

> I don't recall any mention of it on this board...apparently occuring
> back in 2003. I knew he had settled and spent his last years in Las
> Vegas (of all places).

I can recall seeing a short column regarding the death of Paul
Tzimoulis (1935-2003).

Paul was clearly a pioneer and Industry 'big wheel', and IMO, the
reason why many people probably didn't hear much news about his death
was because "Skin Diver" Magazine (SDM) died before he did.

Paul was editor/publisher/etc of SDM for ~33 years (1966-1999), and
with SDM ceasing publication in 2002, roughly six months before his
death, there was no 'tribute' edition published.

> On the Jean-Michel Cousteau special on an excursion to the more remote
> Hawaiian island chain extending as far as Midway and beyond, as seen
> recentlly on TV, mention was made of a brief ceremony by the diving crew
> when they set his creamated ashes into the sea near the conclusion of the
> "show."

This was his "Voyage to Kure"; saw it. Oddly, Paul's name didn't
immediately "ring a bell" for me, but I did notice Geri Murphy's name
in the credits and wondered what her involvement was in the Cousteau
work. It then hit that Geri was Paul's wife. BTW in her time working
for SDM, roughly half of the monthly cover photo's for the magazine
were hers - hence, why I more easily recalled her name.

> Well, I never met up with the guy, but he was quite a presence for many
> years in the one-time diving magazine Skin Diver. He would go out and
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> only good things about the dead) and I don't want to sound churlish, but
> you get the idea!!!

Unfortunately, SDM had become notorious about their "reviews" racket,
and those responsible for SDM have to take the hit, dead or alive. It
did seem to me that the Information Age (Internet) was probably a
significant factor in providing the dissemination of what SDM was doing
to make this more widely known, and which ultimately lead to
competitive business opportunities for Rodale to stand up and compete
as a "more honest" magazine.

One does have to wonder where things "went wrong" for SDM to transform
from a "Sport Proponent" to "Industry Shill", and I'm sure there's
still people alive who know what happened, but they're not necessarilly
inclined to discuss it.

> Let's look at it another way...his passion for diving may have aroused
> others...and if it did -- that was a good thing.

There's always a double edged sword, and simplistically, for 1966-1985,
the net was probably okay. But in the last decade in particular where
the "Industry Mouthpiece" influence became overbearing, it is
debatable. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who remembers the ~1992
Editorials calling Nitrox "Devil Gas" (See Harris's comment at URL:
http://home.earthlink.net/~divegeeked/tabloid.htm ), which was quick to
get a 180 degree policy reversal a few years later when the Rec
Industry (PADI, et al) saw money to be made with it. The Publisher is
ultimately responsible for everything that his Editor(s) put between
the covers.

-hh

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Daniel Kessler - 19 Apr 2006 22:02 GMT

thanks for filling in the 'blanks'...

I hadn't realized that Skin Diver even survived until 2002 or thereabouts.

> , but I did notice Geri Murphy's name
> in the credits and wondered what her involvement was in the Cousteau
> work. It then hit that Geri was Paul's wife.

Yes, I missed that...the name would have rung a bell ..Paul's wife, of
course.... I wonder if she was still alive when he died. I had heard that
Paul and Carl Roessler (who also settled in Las Vegas) would get up every
morning and go and have breakfast with each other to start the day...no mention
of Gerry from the source that spoke to me about it.

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