Photo by me of Prof. Lambert at SOTS Winter Meeting, 2009
From Jack Sasson-
Diverse notices are coming to me that Wilfred Lambert, a giant among the giants of Assyriology, died earlier today. I will relay any details that come to me.
He’s right- Lambert really was a giant. May he rest in peace.
UPDATE: Folk from SOTS (Lambert was a long time member) are sending in remembrances. Here are a few, via Viv Rowett-
John Sawyer: ‘He certainly was a great scholar but also great fun. We had many happy times together, including a midnight race along the beach at Ostend. If I remember rightly, Jan (Hoftijzer) wasn’t far away on that occasion.’
John Day: ‘He was always very kind and full of good humour (and academic gossip!), and always very willing to assist other scholars whenever thy needed his expertise. I recall myself when I was only 30 and just starting to write my first articles how he read my work with a critical but helpful eye, and drummed into me something I’ve never forgotten: the need to try and get to the bottom of any question one was considering, to consult the original sources in the original languages and not merely rely on secondary sources, and to try and get to the truth as opposed to merely following scholarly fashion!’
UPDATE II: The Birmingham Post has an obituary dated Dec. 1, 2011 (when this post was updated).
Zwinglius Redivivus 