He and his wife, May, took in their nephew, Peter, after the death of his parents and raised him well.
Ben was eventually murdered by a criminal that turned out have encountered Peter previously, but Peter did not bother stop him when he had the chance. Peter considered himself responsible for Uncle Ben's death and as a result, resolved to fight crime as a superhero as part of his vow to always take his responsibilities seriously. It was from Uncle Ben that Peter heard what became the famous Spider-man motto: "with great power, comes great responsibility".
In the successful film adaptation released in 2002, Uncle Ben was played by Cliff Robertson.