The world lost one of the most enthusiastic and energetic personalities in the man we all knew as “The Crocodile Hunter.” A pioneer of environmentalism and conservation, Steve Irwin lured America for good when his hit show debuted on Animal Planet in the mid 1990s.

I still remember the first time I became acquainted with the show. My family and I were on vacation in Colorado. Rain spoiled our afternoon plans, so I switched on the television. After surfing through dozens of channels, I was bombarded by a man with a thick Australian accent. Donning tight khaki shorts and a matching shirt, Irwin spoke of crocodiles and snakes with wild eyes and stark enthusiasm. Within a few minutes, my whole family surrounded the television – we had never seen anybody like Irwin before.

His unmatched knowledge of the wild rivaled the immense presence he had before the camera. We watched him with curiosity, which soon turned into an infatuation. We couldn’t get enough of his now famous lines, “Crikey!” and “Take a look at this beauty.”

It wasn’t long before Irwin became a cultural icon. Appearing multiple times on Jay Leno, Irwin even came out with his own movie in 2002. The man appeared to be invincible – he escaped deadly attacks by crocodiles, venomous snakes and other deadly creatures.

Irwin took a break from filming a documentary entitled “Ocean’s Deadliest” just a week ago when the weather would not cooperate – he decided to shift to “softer” topics for kids. Ironically, it was during this filming that he was pierced in the heart by a stingray – he managed to pull out the barb, but he died immediately thereafter. The event of his death, like much of his life, was also caught on tape.

The media has since made a great deal of importance about his death and rightly so. But only a few years ago, I would have disagreed with the amount of media coverage given to the deaths of celebrities.

The first letter to the editor I ever wrote was to my local newspaper, the Belleville News Democrat, in 2001. A media frenzy ensued after legend Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt died in an accident on the track. My letter concerned the inequity involved when a famous person dies compared to just a “normal” person. I did not think it was fair that some people’s lives became elevated just because of their access to the media and the population in general. I haven’t thought about that letter until now.

After Steve Irwin’s death, I realize that I was wrong. Irwin touched the lives of millions of people and saved countless numbers of animals. He possessed a unique quality – perhaps it was the passion he displayed or his charisma. It really did not matter who you were – Irwin had the ability to connect with anyone, young and old. He seemed real, as if we knew him as a friend. He proved that changing the world for the better was not only possible, but his mission.

The media coverage and global interest involving Irwin’s death has lingered longer than many expected. Perhaps it is due to the way he died, but I believe it is because Steve was “just an ordinary bloke”, as Irwin’s father described him. Irwin went above and beyond viewers’ reasonable expectations. He risked his life to educate the viewer about conservation and the wild. Close calls with death were routine for Irwin, but if it meant saving or learning more about animals, he was up to the challenge.

I remember one episode in particular. Irwin arrived in an Australian desert to find that a brush fire had destroyed acres upon acres of land. When his eyes met reptiles that had perished, they filled with tears as he was held powerless – this is the man we remember. As his eight-year-old daughter described him, “he’s funny, he’s entertaining, and he’s always there.”