Stevens profile

• Slain ambassador known for his love of the Middle East, North Africa
• J. Christopher Stevens was known as a hands-on diplomat, CNN reporter says
• Stevens died in an attack outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday

(CNN) -- J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador killed in Libya, will be remembered as a hero, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

"He risked his life to stop a tyrant, then gave his life trying to help build a better Libya," she said after the career foreign service officer died in an attack outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday.

"The world needs more Chris Stevenses," Clinton said.

Stevens graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982, then took a pause in his studies to join the Peace Corps, according to his State Department biography.

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"Growing up in California, I didn't know much about the Arab world," he said in a State Department video prepared to introduce him to the Libyan people after his appointment as ambassador in May.

"I worked as an English teacher in a town in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco for two years, and quickly grew to love this part of the world," he said.

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After returning to the United States, he attended the University of California's Hastings College of Law, graduating in 1989, according to his biography.

He worked as an international trade lawyer in Washington before joining the Foreign Service, the career diplomatic corps, in 1991, according to the State Department biography.

He spent most of his career in the Middle East and North Africa, including postings to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in addition to serving as the deputy chief of the U.S. mission to Libya from 2007 to 2009, during the rule of Moammar Gadhafi, according to the State Department.

"He joined the Foreign Service, learned languages, won friends for America in distant places and made other people's hopes his own," Clinton said.

"In the early days of the Libyan revolution, I asked Chris to be our envoy to the rebel opposition," Clinton said. "He arrived on a cargo ship in the port of Benghazi and began building our relationships with Libya's revolutionaries."

"He was seen as a popular, personable and hands-on diplomat among State Department staffers who knew him," said Elise Labott, a CNN foreign affairs reporter who knew Stevens.

"He wasn't a pinstripe diplomat. He wanted to get his hands dirty, dig in," she said.

He was also well-regarded among Libyans, said Fouad Ajami, an expert on Islamic politics.

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"The sadness of it is that Ambassador Stevens worked long and hard for the liberation of the Libyan people from the tyranny of Moammar Gadhafi," he said.

Stevens frequently spoke of an infectious enthusiasm for the country that made him "the only person, in the eyes of the State Department," for the Libya post, Labott said.

The ambassador understood Libya and its dangers, but also saw great promise, said CNN's Zain Verjee, who also knew Stevens well.

"Chris was passionate about Libya," she said. "He cared about the people and saw hope in its future. He told me he knew the dangers but was committed to democracy and diplomacy above all."

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