Sir Edmund Hillary was a renowned New Zealand mountaineer who, along with Tenzing Norgay, became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. He was also a philanthropist, helping to build schools and hospitals in Nepal.
This is based on winning 6 head-to-head matchups with other famous people, but also losing 20 head-to-head matchups.
Most recently Edmund Hillary lost a matchup to Christopher Hitchens (#1777) voted by someone from Canada.