Geza Vermes

I've just learned that one of the great minds of Second Temple Judaism scholarship has passed away whilst I was busy being a medievalist in Kalamazoo.  Vermes' books and articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls and on the Jewish context of Jesus were instrumental and foundational on the thinking of hundreds of NT scholars in the 60s, 70s, and 80s when I was coming up the first time and many more since.  It is a sad loss, though he had a long and distinguished career.  Obituary here.