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When we were both appointed to the Iraq Inquiry Sir Martin Gilbert and I were spoken of almost as twins, as the "two Jewish historians".
Yet in truth, at that point we did not know each other well and were distinctive in our interests and approaches. Getting to know Martin became one of the boons of Inquiry work.
It was soon clear why he was loved and admired so much - kind and generous, wise but never pompous, mischievous but never malicious, happy to take a joke at his own expense, offering vast reserves of knowledge and a set of wonderful stories.
His international network of friends and acquaintances was remarkable in its range and variety. Politicians and students alike were all touched by his warmth, thoughtfulness and eagerness to help.
The Inquiry was just the latest item in a long commitment to public service. He was consulted first by Harold Wilson in the 1960s and I believe by every PM since.
As a colleague I could appreciate his embrace of an archive, working carefully through each file in turn, highlighting the salient points. His disciplined approach to chronology and enthusiasm for maps demonstrated how much he saw his responsibility as being one of ensuring that every incident was properly located in both time and space. This was at the heart of his success as a historian.
Martin Gilbert's astonishing output of books demonstrated these traits. Most famously he served as the biographer of Sir Winston Churchill (and it is striking that he died almost exactly 50 years after his hero).
He also wrote of the recent history of the Jewish people and of great catastrophes of the last century, and saw it as a duty to describe the Holocaust in painful and poignant detail.
Not long before he was taken ill Martin reminded me of a review I had written in 1989 of his book on the Second World War.
He recalled that I had wondered why the book had started abruptly in September 1939, reported that the criticism had bothered him, and then presented me with a new Folio Society edition of the book with a preface that addressed the question of the war's origins.
This was typical of Martin, demonstrating both his generosity and constant determination to get the story right.
Sir Lawrence Freedman is professor of war studies at King's College, London
