On the Agade list, Jack Sasson relays a message from Jim West that David Noel Freedman has passed away. More details here and a Wikipedia article about him here.
I didn't know Noel well, but I heard lots of stories about him when I studied with Frank Cross (they wrote two joint doctoral dissertations together under Albright at Johns Hopkins in the 1940s). I did see him from time to time, most recently at a party at Bill Propp's house in San Diego during the November 2007 SBL conference. Here's a picture I took of Noel and Baruch Halpern that evening. If memory serves, they were discussing letter forms on a new inscription.
David Noel Freedman was one of the major figures in biblical studies of the twentieth century, known for many books and projects, including the editing of the Anchor Bible Commentary Series. He was also a very nice guy. He will be missed.
Requiescat in pace.
UPDATE (11 April): Hershel Shanks has a final Letter to David Noel Freedman.
UPDATE: Here's a recent interview with Professor Freedman on YouTube.
