He played Superman onscreen and an activist offscreen, making it only fitting that Christopher Reeve be remembered as the hero he was to so many.
Reeve's family and friends came together Tuesday to honor the man in a private ceremony. About 100 mourners gathered at his home in Pound Ridge, New York, to pay tribute to the actor, director and activist who never gave up hope in the face of adversity.
A spokesman said that the family would announce plans for a larger memorial service at the beginning of next week once arrangements were finalized.
"The Reeve family is deeply grateful for the outpouring of support shown to them," said spokesman Wesley Combs. "It is clear that Christopher Reeve has touched the hearts of millions of people around the world and that is the legacy he leaves behind."
About 20,000 people had sent their sympathies to the Reeve family through the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation Website since Monday, many of them spinal cord injury sufferers like Reeve.
The family requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Reeve's honor to his foundation.
Reeve died Sunday at age 52 after suffering a heart attack while being treated for an infected skin wound. He had been paralyzed from the neck down since a horseback riding accident nine years ago.
After his accident, Reeve took up advocating for spinal cord injury research, making the cause his own. It was the actor's long-standing dream that he would one day walk again.
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable," the actor once said.
Though that dream never came to pass, Reeve made amazing progress in his fight for recovery. In 1997, he said he regained some feeling in his arms and hands, and in 2003, he announced that an experimental device was allowing him to draw breath on his own for the first time since his accident.
Despite his paralysis, Reeve continued to work in the entertainment industry.
Among other endeavors, he helmed the made-for-TV movie The Brooke Ellison Story, about a girl who pursues her dreams of going to Harvard after she is paralyzed in a car crash. The telepic is set to air on A&E on Oct. 25.
Earlier this week, producers of an animated film about Reeve's beloved Yankees that he was directing at the time of his death announced that the project would continue production, with a release date targeted for 2006.
Aside from his directorial duties, this past year Reeve guest starred in Smallville, the WB's take on the Superman story. Producers planned to honor Reeve, the original Superman, with a dedication at the end of Wednesday's episode.
Others, such as Rosie O'Donnell, have chosen to remember Reeve in their own ways. The day she heard of Reeve's death, O'Donnell made a slideshow movie in her art studio and posted it on her Website, www.rosie.com, asking viewers to support stem-cell research through Reeve's foundation.
Meanwhile, online DVD rental service Netflix reported that interest in Superman films shot up nearly 600 percent after Reeve's death.
Reeve is survived by his wife, Dana, and their son, Will, 12, as well as his two children from a prior relationship, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21.