Peter Benchley
The New York-born author is most well-known for writing the book and screenplay, Jaws. The book was published in 1974 and remained a bestseller for 44 weeks. The book was then made into a film in 1977 and made more than $470 million worldwide. He died in 2006 following complications from pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 65.

MORE: Registration is under way for this fall’s Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Summit in Nashville, a key focus of which will be new research on the disease.