Tony Judt, Chronicler of History, Is Dead at 62 - Obituaries

 I had read his essays for many years in the New York Review. Of course I was sympathetic to his social democratic critique of the prevailing trends, and his anti-tribalism when discussing the Mid-East as we call it. But what really got my attention was his NY Review essay Night  (January 2010).  He described his nearly complete paralysis due to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Despite this travail he produced lucid, compelling prose, the moral weight of his views gaining urgency from the knowledge of the enormous effort required for the dying man to write, as he insisted on trying to make a difference to the last moment. 

Tony Judt, Chronicler of History, Is Dead at 62 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com
Tony Judt, Outstanding historian of the modern world with a trenchantly clear-sighted take on international politics - Guardian Obituary

And below is Fresh Air's Terry Gross interviewing Judt in march 2010 just four months before his death.  Awesome.