It is with immense sorrow that we must share the news of the sudden loss of our dear colleague, Hector Patmore. In his many roles as husband, father, friend, priest, professor, and colleague, Hector left a lasting mark on those who knew him, and who now grieve his passing.
Hector received his PhD in Theology at the University of Durham in 2008. He went on to pursue postdoctoral research at the Protestant Theological University of the Netherlands in Kampen (2008-2012). The next six years would take him to Cardiff University, where he became Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Ancient Judaism. In 2019, he and his family moved to Leuven, following his promotion to Associate Professor (2019-2025) and eventually Full Professor in Biblical Studies (2025). Hector also led more than twenty study programmes in Israel and the Palestinian territories. From 2020-2025, he acquired a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for the project TEXTEVOLVE, studying the evolution of the Targums.
Hector’s research interests included the development of Jewish beliefs in Antiquity, in particular in the field of demonology; New Testament literature in the context of Judaism; the translation and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, especially the Targums; and the exchange of ideas between Jews and Christians in Antiquity. His many publications, including his two monographs (Adam, Satan and the King of Tyre [2012]; The Transmission of Targum Jonathan in the West [2015]), as well as several volumes on demonology (e.g., Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity [2022]; The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity [2021]) show a rare breadth and depth of scholarship, and reflect the high standards of his work.
We will remember Hector as a gentle, modest, and just man who cared for those around him. He believed in good scholarship, in engaging with impossible questions using the talents and skills that we have all been given. He passed away in the mountains, a place where he always found peace. His second home. Let this be, in whatever small way it can, a comfort for those of us who miss him terribly.
Be at peace, Hector.
IOTS Committee
Psalm 121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.