Maybe not the best idiom to use

[Skeptic]

"Wal-Mart heir John T. Walton, who died in the crash of his experimental, ultralight aircraft, was remembered as a down-to-earth man who threw his considerable financial support behind efforts to educate low-income children..." -- AP obituary.

 

[Mephisto]

"Wal-Mart heir John T. Walton, who died in the crash of his experimental, ultralight aircraft, was remembered as a down-to-earth man who threw his considerable financial support behind efforts to educate low-income children..." -- AP obituary.

I love when obit columns do this. There was an unfortunate instance in my home town where a deputy responding to an assault on another deputy (in a dark, rural part of the state) actually ran over the deputy he was sent to rescue and the assailant, killing them both.

The assailant's obituary the next week read that he had traveled to see the glory of the Lord on a ray of light, when everyone knew he "traveled to see the Lord" on the front bumper of a speeding Crown Royale.

You're right though, "down to earth" was probably NOT the best cliché to use.