Sir Edmund Hillary (1919 – 2008)

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reached the summit of Mount Everest. Hillary was part of a British reconnaissance expedition to Everest in 1951 before joining the successful British attempt of 1953. The expedition included 362 porters, twenty Sherpa guides and 10,000 lbs of baggage. The expedition team set up base camp in March 1953. Working slowly it set up its final camp at the South Col at 7,900 metres. On 26 May, the team leader directed Hillary and Tenzing to go for the summit. The two pitched a tent at 8,500 metres on 28 May 1953 while their support group returned down the mountain. On the following morning Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent. He spent two hours warming them before he and Tenzing attempted the final ascent wearing a 14 kg packs. Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay reached the summit at 11:30 am on 29 May 1953. They spent only about 15 minutes at the summit.

Following Edmund Hillary's ascent of Everest he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas.

Edmund Hillary was born to Percival Augustus Hillary and Gertrude Hillary, nee Clark, in Auckland, on 20 July 1919. They moved to Tuakau (south of Auckland) in 1920, after his father who served at Gallipoli was allocated land there. His grandparents were early settlers in northern Wairoa in the mid 19th century after emigrating from Yorkshire, England.

When Sir Edmund Hillary died on 11 Jan 2008, the New Zealand press praised Sir Edmund in their obituaries. "We will not see his kind again" was the title of the obituary on TVNZ's website, which referred to him as "the quintessential Kiwi - humble, hard-working and honest". A popular NZ website, Stuff.co.nz, described him as "A man Kiwis loved to love" and "a darned nice guy". The New Zealand Herald titled "World's media honours Hillary", and published a compilation of praise from foreign media.