The 26-year-old who died at Auckland Port on Tuesday was working on the same ship as his father.
Atiroa Tuaiti's family have described him as an 'angel' with a smile so constant you would think it was painted on.
The 26-year-old, who is also a partner and father to a new baby, will be remembered with a family service in Auckland before being taken back to the Cook Islands to be laid to rest.
Atiroa Tuaiti Jnr, known as 'Ati' to those who loved him most, was a quiet 'gentle giant' who was selfless to a fault and a new dad.
"If I could describe him - an angel. He would basically take his shoes off and walk in the snow while he carried you on his back, that's the type of person Ati was," his cousin Koi Orika told Newshub.
On Tuesday a haka rang out across Auckland Port as Ati's body was moved from the site of the accident.
His father Atiroa Snr, who worked with his son on the same ship, was inconsolable during the haka as he stood beside his son.
Orika told Newshub they asked Atiroa Snr how he felt about it all.
"We did ask him how he was feeling, he couldn't even utter a word."
Ati fell from a height while loading and unloading containers on Tuesday morning at Auckland Port.
He was working on the ship Capitaine Tasman as a stevedore employed by the private company Wallace Investments.
Work on the ship has now stopped.
"The hardest bit for us to know is how it happened, how the accident happened, how he lost his life, you would not wish that upon anyone," Orika said.
Orika also said it wasn't just Atiroa's dad who worked at the port but other family members were also co-workers.
"His cousins were there too. His cousins who were so happy to be his best friends. One of the young men standing beside his dad was Ngati, they were inseparable, where you find Ati you find Ngati, where you find Ngati you find Ati."
On Wednesday a small group of Ati's closest family returned to the Port for a private tapu-lifting prayer service at the scene of his death.
The young stevedore was born in Aitutaki in the Cook Islands and moved to New Zealand in his late teens.
He leaves behind his partner Kura and their baby boy.
Orika can not comprehend what has actually happened.
"It's really hard to fathom what's actually happening to us, you know. Why does it happen to the good people?"
A quiet and gentle much-loved character who left home for work in the morning, his family expecting they would see him again that night.
