He made the character cute and endearing, but his work lives on, since the Chewbacca character still exists in the Star Wars universe prequels and side stories.

Chewbacca was my favourite character from the series

RIP Leia, Chewbacca & R2, all three in this photo shoot.

He shared the role with another actor (Swedish guy, I think) in "The Force Awakens", and was on set as a consultant for "The Last Jedi", having handed-off the role due to ill health.
The passing of a legend. He helped create one of the most iconic roles in film.
He was also generous with his time and money.

The role of Chewbacca will always be remembered with fondness. Peter did a very good job of portraying the character. My friend imitates the sound of Chewbacca often.

I saw a reference to that on FB. How sad.

Peter Mayhew was an English-American actor, best known for portraying Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series. He played the character in all of his live action appearances from the 1977 original to 2015's The Force Awakens before his retirement from the role. Wikipedia