By ninemsn staff writers
Steve Irwin was born in 1962 to parents Bob and Lyn, two wildlife lovers who would raise their son with similar values.
Brought up in the grounds of a reptile park managed by his parents, Steve wrestled his first crocodile at age nine, under the watchful eye of his father.
The park became the Australia Zoo in 1973 and it was here, and throughout north Queensland, that this boy from Melbourne cut his teeth as a croc charmer.
As a young man, Steve wrestled crocodiles as part of a government-funded relocation program for rogue crocodiles that posed a danger to humans — or those that were in danger of being attacked by humans.
Steve was taught to remove the crocs by hand to protect them, a tactic he grew to believe in strongly.
He was against using drugs to subdue crocodiles until the end. He believed drugs were more harmful to the giant reptiles than any human contact, and always handled them by hand.
Steve's crocodile hunter identity was born at the Australia Zoo in the early 1990s, when a friend shooting footage of wildlife in the park caught Steve on-camera doing a particularly lively demonstration.
Steve also met his future wife and co-host, Terri Raines, at the zoo. The pair were a perfect match, and became engaged four months later.
Steve was appointed a director of the zoo in 1991, and one year later, he and his fiancée began filming episodes of The Crocodile Hunter.
Later that year, on June 4, the pair were married and together they took their passion for animals and the wildlife to the world.
In 1995 they filmed 10 hour-long episodes of The Crocodile Hunter and, that same year, found themselves the subject of a South Park comedy spoof.
But despite their flourishing careers, something was missing. The void was fulfilled with the birth of their daughter Bindi-Sue on July 24, 1998. The couple had a second child, Robert Clarence Irwin, on December 1, 2003.
Meanwhile, The Crocodile Hunter was taking off, averaging around 750,000 viewers a week on US channel Animal Planet and becoming one of the most popular shows on Discovery Channel Canada.
Though Irwin had a seemingly idealic life, it was not one without controversy.
During a public show on January 2, 2004, Irwin was carrying his infant son in one arm while feeding a chicken carcass to a crocodile with the other.
The infant came perilously close to the crocodile and comparisons were made in the press with Michael Jackosn's dangling of his son from a high-rise apartment window.
Steve's passion for the wild and for animals was, however, never in doubt.
He was a man who tried to live life to the fullest and who lived life on the edge, until the very end.
Steve was 44 years old when he died.
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