Sharks played a formative role in Peter Benchley’s life from an early age. He spent his childhood summers on Nantucket Island, where encounters with sharks while sailing, fishing, and swimming sparked a lifelong fascination with the sea and its predators.

That interest continued through his education at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College. After becoming a professional writer in the 1960s, Benchley frequently wrote articles about sharks. In 1964, a news story about a massive great white shark caught near Montauk, Long Island inspired the idea that would later become his landmark novel *Jaws*.

Following college, Benchley traveled the world and documented the journey in *Time and a Ticket*, served briefly in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, and worked as a reporter for *The Washington Post* and *Newsweek*. He later served as a junior speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson before launching a successful freelance writing career.

Benchley wrote for major publications including *National Geographic*, *The New Yorker*, *LIFE*, and *The New York Times*. He authored multiple novels beyond *Jaws*, such as *The Deep* and *The Girl of the Sea of Cortez*, and adapted several of his works for film. In later years, he became a dedicated marine conservationist, producing documentaries and advocating for ocean preservation and the protection of sharks worldwide.

This is a slightly rewritten bio from Peter Benchley’s website.