Valley of Life | Online Memorial Blog

The first man to conquer Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary has died at the age of 88. The modest man, who preferred to be called Ed, was a beekeeper by trade who spent much of his life helping the mountain inhabitants of Nepal. “Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was a heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off’ Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity,” said New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Sir Ed spent decades setting up schools and health clinics in Nepal and raising money for higher education for Sherpa families. “We all have dreams — but Ed has dreams, then he’s got this incredible drive, and goes ahead and does it,” said long-time friend Jim Wilson said in 1993. His humility was one of his most defining traits - he did not admit that he was the first man to summit Mt. Everest until many years after his climbing companion Tenzing Norgay passed on.

Sir Edmund Hillary had an amazing life, incredible adventures, heroic attributes – he lived a life so many wish they could but never take action to do. We can all learn from Mr. Hillary’s life story.

For more about Sir Edmund Hillary, read his online obituary at CNN.com.

For more on writing a memorial life story for an amazing family member in your life that may have passed on, read What is an Online Memorial.

Photo of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on their momentous climb up Everest

Tags: celebrity death, Edmund Hillary

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Obituaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.