Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin (22 February 1962 - 4 September 2006) is dead, pierced by a sting ray, an apparently exceedingly rare way to die; as a show biz figure, it's a spectacular exit. See wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
He is survived by his widow Terri, and his two children, Bindi and Bob. Terri is an Oregonian who took a degree in North American cats (an item not in the WP article).
He was outrageous, with a very risky lifestyle, basically an Oz version of Eval Kneval. He was enormously entertaining, and so I write his obituary, respectfully.
I suspect his funeral will be an Animal Channel event (Terri, being media-savvy, will cash-in).