August 2, 2015

Finest Hour 167, Special Issue 2015

Page 23


On Tuesday, 3 February, Sir Martin Gilbert passed away peacefully in London at the age of 78 after a long and serious illness. In addition to being the official biographer of Winston Churchill, he was a leading historian of the twentieth century, who produced more than eighty books on topics that included the two World Wars, Jewish studies and the Holocaust.

Sir Martin was a longtime honorary member of The Churchill Centre who spoke at numerous Centre events through the years and contributed many scholarly articles to this journal. The autumn 2014 edition of Finest Hour celebrated his career with tributes from his numerous friends, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major and Gordon Brown.

Laurence Geller CBE, Chairman of The Churchill Centre, released the following statement:

The world has lost one of its greatest historians. The Churchill Centre and all those who have been touched by the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill mourn the one man who did more than all others to keep the memory of Britain’s finest son green. Sir Martin Gilbert’s vast and wide-ranging contributions to history have left us an eternal legacy that vividly and brilliantly links the past to the future. We are blessed to have had this great man in our lives.

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Martin’s life was deeply enriched by his ever-encouraging, supporting and wonderful wife, Esther. We are so thankful to her and pray that soon her pain will recede and be replaced by happy and loving memories of an all-too-short life spent together.

On a personal note, Martin lit the flame of my interest in Churchill, nurtured and fed the fire within me and encouraged my lifelong passion for Sir Winston. He was a great friend and mentor to me, and my life was much richer for his being an important part of it. I am so very sad and will miss my friend.

Just this past Saturday I spent much of the day with Esther at Highgate Synagogue, where she and Martin prayed. I gave some remarks to the congregation about Churchill, his relationship with Israel and the Jewish people, and the relevance of his life and lessons to matters facing all freedom-loving people everywhere. Obviously Martin’s work formed the backbone of my comments. With hindsight, I feel so very lucky and indeed privileged to have had the opportunity not only to thank Martin publicly but also to have spent so much time with Esther.

This sad news, the deaths last year of our Patron, Mary Soames, and longtime honorary member the Eleventh Duke of Marlborough, combined with last week’s celebrations of Churchill’s incredible life, remind us of the all-too-quickly-diminishing close links we have with Sir Winston. It stresses the importance of the work we all do in keeping his memory green and his lessons so very relevant.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Esther.

A full obituary and final statements from those whose lives he touched will appear in the spring issue of Finest Hour.

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