The surf world has lost one of its great characters.

Hank Foto, born Brian Stephen in Southern California, died August 8, 2026, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 62.

Since news of his passing spread, tributes have poured in from across the surf world, remembering Hank not simply as a photographer, but as one of those larger-than-life characters who helped define an era of surfing. See Brian Bielmann’s memorial here and below.

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For decades, Stephen documented the sport from inside the action. He began taking photographs in high school before making his first surf photo trip to Bali in 1983.…