To be sure, Breitbart wasn't perfect. He was more of a political activist and populist conservative than a true conservative intellectual. This doesn't mean he wasn't a bright and talented individual — by all accounts, he was — but rather that his methods were more of the smash-mouth, or brute force, variety. 

There were great successes.  He brought down Anthony Weiner after the Democratic congressman denied, and later acknowledged that a sexually explicit photograph he had sent to a young woman via Twitter (which was subsequently posted on BigJournalism.com) was of him.

There were also missteps. In one example, his big revelation about Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod — and her subsequent removal — turned sour after a short, edited video clip of her speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People was found to have taken her views on race out of context.

Breitbart's legacy should be judged by what he helped accomplish for conservatism, in the US and beyond. He helped create a more vocal and active movement. He assembled a team of young and seasoned political commentators, who will continue to fight for the ideas and values he treasured. He taught conservatives to challenge the mainstream media's liberal bias, and use citizen journalism to reveal the truth.

Andrew Breitbart may have died young, but he walked a million miles in his shoes for conservatives. Requiescat in pace.