A supremely modest and decent bloke, I always thought. In a way it seemed appropriate that he and Tenzing should be the first to stand on the top of Everest rather than the (heretical to say, but I will) driven egomaniac Mallory. Nice, too, that he spent his later years doing so much for Nepal without ever banging the drum about it or doing the big celebrity "I am" thing.
In that, he really did seem like someone from a different, rather better age, and climbing is the poorer for his passing.