In memory of Ike Brigham

It's with great sadness that we report that Ike Brigham, founder and chief curmudgeon of Ikelite, passed away on December 20th. According to his daughter Jean, he had been fighting lung cancer.

Since 1962, Ikelite has been providing divers with equipment including housings, strobes, strobe controllers, arms, trays, flashlights, and compasses. In addition, Ikelite has provided legendary service, and Ike himself supported his gear directly to the public. He was active on several underwater photo forums, including DigitalDiver and Wetpixel. There were probably many days when all Ike did was read customer email.

Personally, I'll miss Ike a lot. I never met him, but always expected to.

I began corresponding with Ike several years ago. It was the first dive, of the first day, of a two week vacation in Cozumel, and Judy's strobe flooded. It was a brand new DS50 that I hadn't bothered to test at home. I got on the net, looking for advice, parts, rentals, anything to get a working strobe. Ike himself responded. He overnighted a new strobe to us, at his expense. It might have been my error with the battery door, and it was certainly foolish to have not tested the strobe at home, but Ike said that even if the battery compartment flood was our fault, the flood in the rest of the strobe was his fault.

There are many stories of this kind of service from Ikelite, and many more of strobes getting internal upgrades when sent in for basic service. I'm sure all the fine qualities of Ikelite products and service will continue, but it won't be the same without Ike.

I kept in touch with Ike after that emergency strobe replacement. It was always a treat to get an email from him. Ike's were short, just a few words, but they usually managed to pack in some self deprecating humor and a working, simple solution. Recently, I was swapping batteries on my DS125 strobes, on the center console of the Peace, in wind and spray, and I was using various things to keep my strobes out of the weather while they were open. I suggested to Ike that he make a splash cover, some kind of press-on sealing lid. Ike's reply was "ziplock bags."

The next few years will bring some interesting cameras, and longer lasting batteries, and more efficient lights. I wish Ike could be around to see it all, and get it underwater for us.

Thanks for everything, Ike. We'll miss you.

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/ike-brigham-founder-of-ikelite-passes-away/

DigitalDiver - Ike passes away

Ike - Wetpixel