Happy ending to a life of heroic feats and care for fellow man (+photos and video)

New Zealand legend Sir Edmund Hillary was an adventurer, philanthropist and ambassador. Photo / Brett Phibbs

It had been a happy morning for Sir Edmund Hillary. On a beautiful Auckland summer day, he was feeling better than he had for a while, pleased to be leaving Auckland City Hospital after another bout of treatment for lingering pneumonia.

In his 88 years, Sir Ed had known the worst of human misery, as well as the joy of conquest and triumph.

To the people of the Himalayas, he was a god. Around the world, he was regarded as the greatest of adventurers, the man whose extraordinary endurance forever changed perceptions of human possibility.

And for New Zealanders, Sir Ed was everything a good bastard ought to be - modest and humorous, brave and compassionate, and just grouchy enough to remind us he never sought, nor particularly enjoyed, adulation.

When death came about 9am yesterday, it was kind - a sudden heart attack, ending the slow discomfort of illness and his increasing frustration with frailty and fatigue.

Upon news of his death, accolades that would have made Sir Ed groan and roll his eyes began ringing around the globe.

In Antarctica and around New Zealand, flags were lowered to half-mast.

In Nepal, Sherpas prayed for a good reincarnation and lit butter lamps to remember the man who, with their own Tenzing Norgay, first climbed the sacred Everest.

Political leaders, fellow thrillseekers and admirers around the world praised his accomplishments and his philanthropy.

But from Auckland to Kathmandu, the mood of Sir Ed's mourners is not grief, nor sadness, so much as appreciation of all that he was and all that he gave.

"Sir Ed was simply the greatest living New Zealander so there's a profound loss for all of us," Prime Minister Helen Clark said from Hong Kong late last night as she flew home from a holiday in Europe.

She said he had lived a life of determination, humility and generosity.

Her British counterpart, Gordon Brown, praised "a truly great hero who captured the imagination of the world, a towering figure who will always be remembered as a pioneer explorer and leader".

Sir Ed's ascent of Everest was celebrated as an achievement of the Empire, especially as the feat was made public on the day of the Queen's coronation in June 1953. Early today, however, there was no comment from Buckingham Palace about his passing.

Australia's Acting PM, Julia Gillard, described him as "one of New Zealand's giants. [His] name is synonymous with adventure, with achievement, with dreaming and then making those dreams come true."