Jacques Cousteau would have turned 100 today.

By any measure, Cousteau led a remarkable life. According to an article on LiveScience, Cousteau’s “prolific career includes over 120 television documentaries, 50 books and the 300,000 member environmental foundation, the Cousteau Society.” He was also an inventor: His Aqua Lung allowed divers to venture deeper into the ocean than anyone could have dreamt possible. Somewhere in the middle of all that he also managed to found an oceanographic institute and conduct groundbreaking research.

I was always a huge fan of Cousteau’s. He was soft-spoken but his words were powerful. In some ways, he reminded me of Gandhi: He was a quiet, unassuming apostle for global change.

Cousteau once said that, “When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.”

Thank God he followed—and shared—his passion. May his extraordinary life be a legacy for generations to come.