Loss of a Kiwi hero

We all have known them, as the first men to climb Mt. Everest, Edmund Hillary and Tensing Sherpa. Frankly, that's all I knew about the duo. After moving to New Zealand in 2002 I learnt who this man, (Sir) Edmund Hillary really was. In an article on stuff.co.nz the Sherpa's have the following to say about him:

He climbed Everest, yes, but to us he did much more. In Kunde and Khumjung, there is the life-saving hospital and the life-changing school. In Tengboche, there is the Buddhist monastery he helped rebuild after fire destroyed much of it in 1989. Inside temples throughout the Solu-Khumbu, Sir Ed is considered a spirit. The Sherpas call him the Godfather, a truism rather than a nickname. In a poll of Nepalese children not long ago, Sir Ed rated second behind the Dalai Lama as a hero. The Dalai Lama once pronounced himself a Sir Ed fan.

It is through this act towards humanity, to the people of Nepal that he earns his additional fame. He was a man strong and stoic, an inspiration to many. Humble, that he was, he would be more comfortable talking about and doing charity than talking about his glories. He was the only person, living, who appeared on the New Zealand $5 banknote. I also realized much later that he was the New Zealand ambassador to India sometime in the 1980's.

In the words of the NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark:

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived"