Sir Edmund Hillary (20 July 1919 - 11 January 2008)

There was a man, I don't recall his name, who was an old man when my father was in his teens. He often liked to say "Well, there's people dyin' today who were never dyin' before." It seems like an obvious thing to say, but in there somewhere is a fundamental truth.

Sir Edmund Hillary died today in Auckland, New Zealand after suffering a heart attack. He was 88, a veteran of the Second World War, and best known for being the first to summit Mount Everest, along with Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide who passed away in 1986. Hillary was knighted for scaling Everest and went on to reach the south pole. He founded the Himalayan Trust, a charity devoted to helping the Sherpa people which Hillary devoted much of the later part of his life to. He was also the first New Zealander to appear on a bank note (5 NZD) during his lifetime.

Its very rare today to be able to talk to someone who was the first to any place, when travel is really easier than any point in our history. That access to first-hand experience is now a little rarer, and we are all poorer for it.