Trident Seafoods founding partner, Kaare Ness, passed away peacefully the morning of Saturday, Jan. 23, the company said in an announcement Monday. He was 87.

Ness was born in Karmoy, Norway in 1928, and took up fishing at the age of 15 to provide for his family.

(VIDEO: See an account of Ness's adventures in this documentary)

He later moved to the United States with other Norwegian ex-pats to harvest scallops off the coast of of New Bedford, Mass.

Following that, he made his way to Alaska, where he worked as a skipper on a crab vessel, later meeting and befriending Trident founder Chuck Bundrant.