Albert Tillman, 75; Scuba Teacher Helped to Popularize Diving

Albert A. Tillman, 75, a pioneer in teaching and certifying scuba diving, died Friday in Seattle of unspecified causes.

A native of Los Angeles, Tillman started diving at age 10 and later took diving classes at the University of Hawaii while serving in the Army during World War II. Educated at USC, he took a diving course for scientists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography and in 1953 started Los Angeles County’s first public classes in skin and scuba diving, soon adding instructor certification courses.

In 1955, Tillman joined the faculty at Cal State Los Angeles, where he created the first university degree program in recreation and leisure studies and wrote several of the discipline’s first textbooks. He also founded the nation’s first college scuba diving club. Tillman officially retired in 1984, but continued teaching part time until 1995.

As a contributing editor for Skin Diver Magazine in 1959, Tillman helped fellow editor Neal Hess establish the National Assn. of Diving Instructors, or NAUI, the first international scuba diving certification agency. He personally trained divers until the mid-1980s.

In 2000, he was one of the original inductees of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame along with Jacques-Yves Cousteau.