Great post. This guy deserves all the honors.
I learned something new in your post:

including Nick Fury starring David Hasslehoff... yes that exists

Honestly, I am glad i did not watch that one.
I think that what Lee and his generation of creativos did is worthy of all our praise and admiration. They created a whole culture and saw the potential (both finantially and culturally) for the not so far future.
Of course, Lee was lucky enough to live long enough to see all that materialized. The lives of many people have been more fun thanks to him; the comic book as an art form is more respected thanks to him and many issues derived from comic books plots (historical, political, scientific, social) are now mainstream thanks to him and his generation.