Surviving so long with ALS sort of made him a celebrity. But he was also a great scientist who made discoveries bridging quantum mechanics with general relativity. Do we consider Kip Thorne, John Wheeler, Roger Penrose, or Richard Feynman great scientists? Only if you can appreciate their work. Otherwise, they didn’t get the public attention as much.
Weren’t Thorne and Feynman students of Wheeler? I think Wheeler may be the most underrated, if Hawking isn’t the most overrated.