Steve Irwin’s loved ones are remembering his impact on the 20th anniversary of his death.

In an Instagram post shared Friday, the Crocodile Hunter’s wife, Terri Irwin, reflected on the final days she and her children, Bindi and Robert, spent with her late husband.

“After 20 years, grief still walks with me like my shadow,” she wrote. “With the passing of time, I have gained more perspective and understanding.”

Irwin died on Sept. 4, 2006, at the age of 44 after a stingray struck him in the heart while he worked on the underwater film “Ocean’s Deadliest” in Australia. Terri said the family traveled there together, giving them the chance to spend time with Irwin in the lead-up to his tragic death.

“We were together as a family, on our crocodile research expedition, for what was to be our final six weeks together. Ours was to be a long and sweet goodbye,” Terri recalled.

“Steve spent time with Bindi and Robert building swings and climbing trees,” she continued, “We all slowed down. Time slowed down. I believe that all of us, every one of us, gets to say goodbye. We just may not know that we’re saying it. Hold every moment dear with the ones you love. Until we meet again.”

Bindi responded in the comments, writing: “I love you so much, Mum. You are the strongest woman I know.”

In her own tribute, 28-year-old Bindi remembered her father as “the most passionate and dedicated wildlife conservationist.” Her post also included footage of Irwin discussing the moment Terri gave birth to her in the hospital.

“Our family lost our superhero,” she continued. “My mum lost the love of her life; my brother and I lost the greatest dad,” Bindi wrote in the caption. “Grief never truly leaves us; we walk alongside it every day. Where there is enormous grief, there is even greater love.”

Bindi also revealed her that her 5-year-old daughter has started to watch Irwin’s documentaries, adding that she has come to call him “Grandpa Crocodile.”

“My dad left a lasting impact so poignant that it will ripple out for generations to come,” she wrote. “I believe with my whole heart that his love will live on forever.”

Irwin’s son, Robert, now 22 years old, shared multiple posts paying tribute to his late father on Friday. The first read: “Your legacy is forever.” Another featured a video montage of memories.

———

Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner was honored with a posthumous Emmy Award at Sunday, Sept. 6’s Creative Arts event in Los Angeles, which were held in advance of the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards that take place on Sept. 14.

The 78-year-old Bronx native, who was killed in December, received an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series award for his work on the FX series “The Bear.”

Reiner competed in the category against Michael J. Fox and Brett Goldstein on “Shrinking”; Hamish Linklater on “Widow’s Bay”; Christopher McDonald from “Hacks”; and Connor Storrie for his guest host appearance on “SNL.”

Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead with stab wounds in their Los Angeles home on Dec. 14. Their son Nick Reiner, 32, is charged with murdering the couple and lying in wait. He pleaded not guilty with “special circumstance” and is awaiting trial.

“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened,” Nick’s brother, Jake Reiner, told ABC News in an interview that aired last month.

It was the first time he spoke at length about the death of his prolific dad, who directed films including “Stand By Me,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “This is Spinal Tap.”

Before Sunday’s honor, Reiner won Primetime Emmy Awards in 1974 and 1978 for playing Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the sitcom “All in the Family.”

His father was 11-time Emmy Award winner Carl Reiner. Carl’s final award and penultimate Emmy came 37 years apart.

———

NEW YORK — Pop culture icon Dolly Parton was laid to rest at a private, “quickly done” funeral in Tennessee. In fact, her cousin Richie Owens said he wouldn’t even call the process a funeral.

“The word keeps getting brought up, ‘funeral,’ and I don’t believe that was really the case in this situation,” Owens told NBC’s “Today” show.

He said the 80-year-old star, who died recently after a brief hospitalization, wanted to be buried next to her husband during a very small memorial attended by a few family members. Carl Dean, her husband of nearly six decades, was interred at Nashville’s Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum after his death in March 2025.

“It was very quiet, very quickly done, and not for any bad reasons whatsoever, it’s just that’s what she wanted,” he said. “She wanted to keep it very, very private.”

Like her burial, Parton kept her health problems private before she died from cancer in a Nashville hospital on Aug. 25. The world mourned her passing.

President Donald Trump ordered that flags on federal buildings be flown at half-staff. In London the Band of the Coldstream Guards and the Irish Guards’ Number 12 Company played her 1980 classic “9 to 5” during the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

According to Owen, 65, Parton said that she’d prefer to see mourners spending their time and money on other things when she died.

“She would much rather see people take that $50 you should spend on flowers and give it to her Imagination Library,” he said.

That was a wish she’d expressed “many, many times” he claims.

———

By Tribune News Service