Sir Martin Gilbert, center, died at the age of 78. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – British-Jewish historian Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of United Kingdom prime minister Winston Churchill, has passed away from cancer at 78.

A prolific author, Gilbert wrote more than 80 books during a career spanning several decades, with most focused on the life of Churchill as well as dozens of others on the Holocaust, Jewish history, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Some of his most recent works included In Ishmael’s House: A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands, Churchill and the Jews, and The Story of Israel: From Theodor Herzl to the Roadmap for Peace.

In 1995, Gilbert was awarded knighthood for his “services to British history and international relations.” In a tweet, Britain’s Holocaust Education Trust said: “Very sad to hear of the passing of Sir Martin Gilbert, leading Holocaust historian and our great friend. Our thoughts are with his family.”

At the time of his death, Gilbert was a member of a panel conducting an investigation into the Iraq war.