New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary died in hospital today at the age of 88.
Sir Edmund became the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest with Nepal's Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in May 1953.
It was reported he had been suffering pneumonia, and Radio New Zealand said he died at Auckland City Hospital this morning.
New Zealand flags flew at half mast at Scott Base in Antarctica today, mourning the loss of one of the greatest adventurers of the 20th century.
Edmund Hillary and Sardar Tenzing Norgay pictured in Katmandu, capital of Nepal in 1953 after their ascent of Mount Everest
Mr Hillary scaled the world's highest mountain in 1953, telling companions after the climb: "We knocked the bastard off".
"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said in announcing Sir Edmund's death.
"He was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only knocked off Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," said Ms Clark. The New Zealand government is to give Sir Edmund a state funeral.
Born in Auckland on July 20th, 1919, Sir Edmund led an uneventful life until he achieved his Everest triumph on May 29, 1953, at the age of 33.
Then a beekeeper from near Auckland, Mr Hillary was chosen by British expedition leader John Hunt to make the final assault on Everest because of his experience in the Himalayas and immense energy and strength. Sherpa Tenzing was chosen as his climbing partner.
Sir Edmund Hillary after he and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa became the first people to climb Mount Everest in 1953
At 11.30am. they became the first to step onto the summit of the highest mountain on earth. For years neither would say who stepped foot on the summit first, but Sir Edmund said it was him following Tenzing's death in 1986.
"Next moment I had moved on to a flattish exposed area of snow with nothing but space in every direction. Tenzing quickly joined me, and we looked round in wonder," he wrote in his autobiography Nothing Venture, Nothing Win.
By late afternoon they were back at the South Col camp, and on June 2nd word of the conquest was out.
After Everest, Mr Hillary led a number of expeditions. In 1958, he and four companions travelled overland in three modified tractors to become the first to reach the South Pole by vehicle.
In the 1960s he returned to the Himalayas in search of the fabled Yeti, and in 1975 he led a jet boat expedition to the source of the Ganges.
But most of his energy was devoted to helping Nepal's Sherpa people who live in the shadow of Everest. His Himalaya Trust raised about €200,000 a year, and he helped build schools, hospitals, bridges, pipelines and an airfield.
His philosophy of life was simple: "Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself," he said in a 1975 interview.