David Alexander Chri Bright

David Alexander Christopher Bright, age 49 years, of Raritan Township, NJ, died on Saturday, July 8, 2006 while scuba diving off Nantucket Island, MA.

Born on June 29, 1957 in Niagara Falls, N.Y., he was the son of Ann H. Bright. He had resided in Raritan Township, NJ for the past twenty-one years.

Mr. Bright was formerly a Research Scientist for Pfizer located in New York, NY, retiring in 2002.

He was the President of Nautical Research Group, Inc., a consulting firm that provides full service discovery, exploration, research and analysis on the sea and shipwreck disasters throughout the world.

A research scientist with a scientific degree in biology and an advanced degree in physiology from the Pennsylvania State University, He was an experienced shipwreck historian and deep technical diver. He had worked in various capacities on more than forty documentaries with such networks as National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, A&E, the Learning Channel, PBS (Public Broadcasting) and the major television networks - ABC, CBS, NBC.

Mr. Bright's research has also appeared in several thousand publications and news media outlets worldwide, including CNN, the New York Times, the Associated Press, and the Reuters news agency. He had lectured extensively at universities, museums, libraries, and various prestigious functions on the exploration of ships. He had been a major contributor to many books, newspaper features, and other media-related sources, and his diving exploits have been featured in two recently released books, Collision Course by Alvin Moscow and Dark Descent by Kevin McMurray.

He was a member of the prestigious Explorer's Club, the Marine Technology Society, American Academy of Underwater Sciences, Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society and the Pennsylvania State University Eberly College of Science Alumni Board of Directors.

He had studied the Titanic for more than thirty years and was honored as the featured keynote speaker at the Titanic's eightieth-anniversary convention in New York City, where he sat at the head table with many of the Titanic survivors. In the summers of 2003 and 2005, as part of his scientific research on the Titanic, he dived to the wreck site of this historic ship, almost three miles down in the dark North Atlantic, to perform research using the Russian Mir submersible. In the course of this project he has been researching the degradation of the Titanic by analyzing comparative photometric analysis to understand the etiology of increased, exponential microbial activity evident in situ. His Titanic video was licensed to promote Dr. Robert Ballard's 2004 expedition to the famed ship. Additionally, this video footage has also been used to support two National Geographic documentaries, the latest of which aired in December 2004, a National Geographic DVD released in April 2005 and a History Channel documentary that was shown in October 2005.

He was the founder and a member of the Andrea Doria Survivor Reunions Committee, whose function is to provide survivors and their family members with annual events to commemorate this sea disaster. He had established the Andrea Doria Museum Project (the main site is at the Nantucket Lifesaving Museum), which loans artifacts and historic treasures from the Andrea Doria to museums for display. He was considered the foremost historical authority on the Andrea Doria, and his private collection is one of the most extensive in the world.

He is survived by his wife of twenty-three years, Elaine Mueller Bright; three children, Michelle, Matthew, and Heather Bright; his mother, Ann H. Bright of Youngstown, NY; and two brothers, Michael Bright and wife Patricia Labosky of Philadelphia, PA and James and wife Kelly Bright of Niagra falls, NY; as well as many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

Visitation will be held Thursday from 7-9 p.m. and again on Friday from 2-4 & 7-9 p.m. at the Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington, NJ. Please visit www.holcombefisher.com for further information or to send condolences. Additional visitation followed by a Funeral Service will be held in Lewiston, NY next week. Please contact the Hardison Funeral Home, North 4th Street and Ridge Street, Lewiston, NY 14092 for further information (716) 754.7963. Interment will be in the family plot in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Lewiston, NY.