In Memoriam: Sir Martin Gilbert

Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill, died on February 3, 2015 after suffering a long illness resulting from a 2012 heart arrhythmia. He was 78. Gilbert was a distinguished historian of the Holocaust, World Wars I and II, and Jewish history, and described himself as a proud Jew and Zionist.

Born in London in 1936, Gilbert was evacuated to Toronto in 1940 as part of Britain’s effort to remove its children to safety overseas. His memories of this experience would later fuel his interest in the period. Gilbert returned to England with other evacuated children in 1944.

Gilbert attended Highgate School, where he studied under another prominent historian, Alan Palmer. He earned his bachelor’s in history from Magdalene College, Oxford. During his post-graduate research at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, he was approached by Randolph Churchill, son of Winston Churchill, to assist in writing the former prime minister’s biography. After Randolph’s death in 1968, Gilbert took over heading the project. He authored six of the biography’s eight volumes, along with eleven companion books of source material and thirteen spin-offs.

Gilbert wrote many works for broad audiences. Among these works are The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War; Auschwitz and the Allies; The First World War; The Second World War; and a two-volume History of the Twentieth Century. In total, Gilbert wrote more than eighty books.

Gilbert was knighted in 1995 for his services in documenting British history, and in 1999 he was awarded a doctorate from Oxford University for his many contributions to the field. He was a fellow at Merton College, Oxford for thirty-two years, and an honorary fellow for another twenty. At the time of his death, Gilbert was serving as a panel member of Great Britain’s inquiry into the Iraq war.

He is survived by his wife Esther, his daughter Natalie, and sons David and Joshua.