Neil Balnaves, philanthropist, died in a boating accident aboard the luxury yacht The World

Balnaves previously survived a serious boating accident 20 years ago, which inspired him to leave his career in television and pursue philanthropy.

Neil Balnaves, a well-known Australian television executive and philanthropist, has died. He was 77 years old. According to Australia's ABC affiliate Balnaves died in an accident while aboard the luxury residential yacht The World off the coast of Tahiti.

The accident happened on Monday, due to the Australian Financial Review. Balnaves' death comes 20 years after he was involved in another serious boating accident, which altered the course of his life. 

In 2013, he told news Australia's Michael Cathcart, "I ended up having a pretty shocking accident in my late 50s."

"I was completely flattened by a boating accident, and it took me a year to recover."

According to the outlet, because Balnaves was in constant pain and unable to travel as a result of the first accident, he sold his TV production company and donated the proceeds to charity.

"How was I going to use it?" "There was that strange stage where you thought a bigger boat, or a plane, or a bigger house would be nice," he said in 2013. "[But] that was largely false, and it was this that gave rise to the [Balnaves] Foundation." I really came to the culmination... that it was important to give something back to the country that had done so much for me. 

Details on how Balnaves, who worked in the Australian television industry between 1975 and 1986, died this week aboard The World were not immediately available. The World, according to its website, is "the largest, privately owned residential yacht on the planet."

The World, which debuted in 2002, caters to entrepreneurs and philanthropists who own the 165 separate luxury living quarters aboard. News of Balnaves' accident has reached representatives of The World.