News: Inventor of water parks dies at age 76

Posted at 7:40 PM EST (0040 GMT)

Feb. 7th, 2006 -- George Millay, founder of SeaWorld and Wet n' Wild, died last night in his sleep. He had been suffering from lung cancer, and an infection developed during chemotherapy causing his death. Millay was born on July 4, 1929, and later opened a succesful restaraunt in Long Beach, Calif. Not being completely happy with just a restaraunt, Millay invented a new type of theme park.

SeaWorld opened in 1964, as an immensely themed "underwater zoo." SeaWorld had the world's first public display with a live killer whale, Shamu. This new park slowly gained popularity, and later Millay opened SeaWorld Ohio, 1970, and SeaWorld Orlando, 1973.

In 1971, Millay assisted in the devevlopement of Magic Mountain. Millay Resigned from SeaWorld after a dispute with the company, and went on to develop yet another new type of theme park. After three years of designing and planning, Millay opened the world's first water park in Orlando, Wet n' Wild.

Millay very succesful with Wet n' Wild, having created 10 water parks in Brazil, Mexico and the United States when he sold his company in 1998. In 1994, Millay was inducted into the IAAPA Hall of Fame, and 10 years later, the World Waterpark Association gave him their first ever Lifetime Achievement Award and named him the official "Father of the Waterpark."

Many theme park executives and enthusiasts alike agree that George Millay was one of the most revolutionary people who influenced the amusement industry. Jan Shultz, a retired SeaWorld executive said "George was a creative, brilliant guy. You don't have to go too far down the list from Walt Disney to get to George Millay. Sure, you can throw P.T. Barnum in there and you can throw Henry Ford in, but George will always be among the top five list of the most brilliant, creative minds of all times."

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