In Memoriam: Prof. Dr. Hector Patmore
On 14 September, we received the sad news that our former colleague Hector Patmore had died at the age of 45 in a mountain hiking accident in Scotland.
A Warm Personality
Hector Patmore joined PThU in 2008 as a researcher on the NWO-funded project “A Jewish Targum in a Christian World.” Shortly before that, he had completed his PhD in Durham, on the early reception of Ezekiel 28:11–19.[1] Within our team, he was responsible for the Italian and Ashkenazi manuscripts of Targum Samuel. He threw himself into the new research project with enormous energy and dedication. With his keen intelligence and warm personality, he was a highly valued addition to our team. He was a true team player.
In the meantime, he had also decided that, alongside pursuing an academic career, he wanted to serve the church, and he was ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church. After the successful completion of the research project,[2] he unfortunately had to leave PThU, but he remained in contact with the members of the Kampen research team.
Research on Targum Manuscripts
With impressive perseverance, he managed to navigate the difficult academic job market in our field, taking up a series of temporary positions in Cardiff, Oxford, Nottingham, Strasbourg, and Jerusalem, before ultimately securing a permanent position in Leuven. Over the years, he conducted research on the phenomenon of demons in ancient Judaism and Christianity, which eventually resulted in a fine book.[3]
In Leuven, he also resumed the research on Targum manuscripts that he had begun at PThU. He initiated his own research project, Textevolve: A New Approach to the Evolution of Texts Based on the Manuscripts of the Targums. For this research, he was awarded a prestigious grant from the European Research Council (ERC).
Continuing a Tradition
As part of this project, last year I had the privilege, together with PThU alumnus and visiting professor Willem Smelik, of serving as an opponent at the doctoral defence of Hector's first PhD student as a professor at KU Leuven.[4] For us, this was a special moment: it felt as though we were passing the baton. In this way, Hector Patmore continued the tradition that had originally been initiated in Kampen by Prof. Johannes de Moor.
Hector will be deeply missed: first and foremost by his wife and children, but also by the many scholars and students for whom he had such a profound significance during his short life. May his memory be a blessing!
Dineke Houtman
Prof. em. Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations
[1] Published as Adam, Satan, and the King of Tyre: The Interpretation of Ezekiel 28:11-19 in Late Antiquity (Jewish and Christian Perspectives 20; Leiden: Brill, 2012).
[2] His contribution was later published as The Transmission of Targum Jonathan in the West. A Study of Italian and Ashkenazi Manuscripts of the Targum to Samuel (JSS Supp. 35; Oxford: University Press, 2015).
[3] Hector M. Patmore & Josef Lössl (eds.), Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity. Characters and Characteristics (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 113; Leiden–Boston, MA: Brill, 2022).
[4] The dissertation, which was awarded the highest distinction, was published this year as a monograph: J. Verrijssen, The Liturgical Targum: The Aramaic Translation of the Torah in Mahzorim (SuppAS 21, Leiden: Brill, 2026).
