In his heyday … Michael Peterson has died at 59 from a heart attack. Photo: Alan Lambert
MICHAEL PETERSON, widely considered to have been the best surfer in the world 40 years ago, has died at 59 and suddenly a light has gone out for many baby boomer and younger generation surfers who rode his waves in their imaginations.
He died from a heart attack, his once paddling-honed slim Botticelli-like body bloated by years of drugs taken to combat schizophrenia.
Peterson had not ridden a surfboard for decades but his personification of the cool rebel surf purist so echoed down the years that his longtime sponsor Rip Curl is still selling aviator sunglasses he wore at his greatest victory for $140 a pair.
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