It is with great sadness that we report the death of Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith on Tuesday, 13 September 2016, at the age of 78. 
Professor Riley-Smith was a distinguished medievalist, a Fellow of Queens' College from 1972-78 and the Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History from 1994-2005.
Professor Riley-Smith taught at Queens' from 1972 to 1978. He held many roles at Queens' during his Fellowship including Librarian and Praelector. From 1978 to 1994, he became Professor of Medieval History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He returned to Cambridge to hold the prestigious position as Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History from 1994 until his retirement in 2005.
Professor Riley-Smith was a leading figure in the study of the Crusades, producing many works, both academic monographs and works of general interest, from 'The Knights of St John in Jerusalem and Cyprus, c.1050-1310' (1967) and 'The Feudal Nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174-1277' (1973) to 'The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam' (2008) and 'The Knights Hospitaller in the Levant 1070-1309' (2012). He was the editor of 'The Atlas of the Crusades' (1991) and 'The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades' (1995). Professor Riley-Smith was a founder and president of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East.