Shark expert and Mote Marine Laboratory founder Eugenie Clark has died. She was 92.

A release on the Sarasota research organization's website says Clark passed away at her family home Tuesday after battling lung cancer for years.

Nicknamed the "Shark Lady," Clark routinely swam and went scuba diving with the ocean predators. She conducted 71 submersible dives and led over 200 field research expeditions. She also wrote three books and more than 175 articles.

Clark started the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in 1955. After moving several times over the past 60 years and changing its name in 1967 to honor benefactor William R. Mote, the lab today has six campuses in Florida and more than 200 staff.

Clark was a professor at the University of Maryland from 1968-1992 and then returned to Mote in 2000.