More than Richie McCaw, Colin Meads or Dan Carter, he became synonymous with the game, the global superstar known well beyond rugby-playing nations.
He is rugby's equivalent of football's Pele or basketball's Michael Jordan.
While the word ''legend'' might be tossed around far too easily in the sporting arena, it should be used for Lomu, that rarest of stars.
When he burst on the scene with schoolboy exploits and then at the 1994 Hong Kong Sevens, here was a special talent.
All Black coach Laurie Mains selected him as the youngest All Black, at 19 years and 45 days, in 1994.
He struggled with positional play and was dropped, coming back the next year at the World Cup in South Africa where he was the player of the tournament, scoring and setting up tries galore.
It was in that semifinal against England his legendary status was established. With his speed, poise and power he scored four tries.
The image of him beating players before stumbling and, while off balance, steam-rolling the hapless English fullback is replayed again and again.
It is fixed in the minds of New Zealand rugby followers, and has been voted the greatest World Cup try.
It only emerged years later that illness was already leaving him exhausted and unable to train properly.
Despite worsening kidney issues, he played 63 times for the All Blacks, scoring 37 tries.
The problems disrupted his career, and prompt absolute awe at what might have been achieved with good health.
Admiration for Lomu is all the greater for the way he overcame a violent and disruptive childhood.
A brilliant French film, Anger Within, revealed his feelings towards a violent, alcoholic father who beat his mother.
He spent early years living with an aunt in Tonga and later spent nights on the streets, being brought home on occasions by police.
A turning point in his life was said to be the fatal stabbing of a friend and then attendance at Wesley College.
He began his career as a shy Pacific Islander and grew in confidence, becoming an international rugby ambassador.
He was admired for his smile, friendliness, gentleness and helpfulness.
There is no doubt New Zealanders like their heroes humble.
One sign of his grace was when the bewildered All Blacks were beaten by France in the World Cup semifinal of 1999.
Lomu had the composure and thought to congratulate his opponents.
The 2004 kidney transplant led to a partial and temporary reprieve, and he nearly died when the kidney was rejected in 2011.
Since then, there has been constant dialysis treatment.
In Britain over the past few months for the World Cup with his wife and sons aged 4 and 6, he spoke of his aim to stay alive until his boys were 21.
Sadly, that was not to be.
Those boys have every reason as they grow up to be proud of this colossus who was their father.
And every time the rest of us see him on film, ball tucked in his giant left hand, swerving, rampaging, sprinting, we can reflect with pleasure on New Zealand's legendary international rugby superstar.
