[5] After serving in the United States Army occupation force in Japan in 1946–1947, he graduated from Yale University in 1951, earning degrees in both English and economics.
[6] He spent ten years as an investment banker but after the death of his twin brother at age 29, he left banking to pursue a career in exploration.
[7] He was the first to dive the wreck of SS Andrea Doria and his photos of the ship were published in Life magazine in August 1956.
Gimbel also directed and produced the 1971 film Blue Water, White Death which was the first cinematic filming of great white shark, featuring Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor, Rodney Fox, Stan Waterman and Peter Lake.
[9][10] The shark's attack on Lake's cage at the end of the film inspired Peter Benchley's book, Jaws.