Few men more aptly fit Ernest Hemingway's rather macho observation about defeat than Christopher Reeve. Man was not made for defeat, Hemingway declared. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
The American Superman actor and campaigner for research into spinal injuries whose death was announced this week was certainly not made for defeat. In overcoming to the extent that he did the catastrophic injury he sustained in a riding accident nine years ago, Reeve was no arrogant triumphalist. Modesty and humility, laced with a steely determination, were his hallmarks. A tall and strikingly handsome if somewhat wooden actor, Reeve's warm smile and personality - underpinned by an endearing tendency to self-deprecate - won him many admirers.
There was something quintessentially American about him. He was just 43 years old when his spinal cord was snapped high in his neck when he landed awkwardly after being thrown from his horse. Reeve despaired briefly, remarking soon after to his wife Dana that, given the extent of his disability, they should perhaps agree to end his life. But with her help and selfless devotion, he soon snapped out of it and flung himself into campaigning. It was this approach that made him so typically American: optimistic in the face of overwhelming odds, believing that science and technology would, ultimately, overcome all hurdles and holding as an article of faith that progress is the inevitable outcome of endeavour.
Reeve became a passionate advocate for stem-cell research. Unlike most cells in the body, those that make up the central nervous system do not regenerate after injury. Stem cells - cells taken from newly-conceived embryos - can be cultured indefinitely, thus offering the potential of spare tissue for transplant. Interestingly, other American celebrities with personal experience (Nancy Reagan, whose late husband Ronald suffered from Alzheimer's disease, the actor Michael J Fox who has Parkinson's disease) are likewise enthusiastic supporters of stem-cell research.
President Bush, however, has thrown in his lot with the Christian fundamentalist right in the United States. According to the extreme view advocated by this group, stem-cell research is equal to the deliberate taking of life without exception. A cell in a test tube is elevated in status to a fully-fledged human being. President Bush paid tribute to Reeve on his death, noting his "dedicated advocacy for those with physical disabilities". Reeve's cause was greater, making Mr Bush's words ring hollow.