Steve Irwin

Stephen Robert Irwin grew up in Queensland learning to handle crocodiles from his father Bob, who founded what would become Australia Zoo. In the late 1990s he and his wife Terri turned that hands-on approach into The Crocodile Hunter, a documentary series that made his nickname and his enthusiasm famous worldwide. The couple co-hosted several other wildlife programs and ran the zoo together, raising two children, Bindi and Robert. On 4 September 2006, a stingray struck him while he filmed an underwater documentary at the Great Barrier Reef. The news traveled everywhere - shock, grief, tributes from governments and fans. Parks, zoos, streets, a vessel, a snail species, and an asteroid now carry his name, and the family still runs the zoo.