"Ze'ev Schiff, dean of Israel's military correspondents." The phrase rolls off the tongue easily, swiftly, naturally. Do a Google search and that description, perhaps with a slight variation, appears thousands of times. Through his columns and his articles, his books, his monographs and his interviews, that is how the world knew Ze'ev - as the finest and the most respected of his profession, in a land where military matters are taken seriously.

Washington knew Ze'ev as the wisest of the wise men. He knew his facts, he had impeccable sources; and he checked, double checked, and then checked them again. For more than 20 years, the smartest people in the White House, Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies - loyal Republicans and Democrats alike - would not just answer his phone calls but would seek him out. They wanted to get his views, test theories, float trial balloons, sometimes just to make sure Ze'ev was "in the know." When I circulated a brief email message about his death to Washington colleagues, on the day officialdom was preoccupied with the visit of an Israeli prime minister, it registered in a flash: "Ze'ev was more than a friend - a mentor and a wise man," wrote back one very senior State Department official within minutes. "Ze'ev was one of the great men of my generation," emailed a former air force secretary. "I am in shock," a high-level peace processor wrote me.

For the past 14 years, as I have served as director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Ze'ev was the confidant whose advice I so often sought. If I wanted to invite an Israeli to brief a team of presidential campaign advisers or speak to a band of traveling American journalists, I needed to know: Is this Israel Defense Forces general on the way up or on the way out? Is this minister full of knowledge or just full of himself? Ze'ev's judgment was always pure gold. I have seen him work miracles - magically arranging for the IDF to open a border crossing on Shabbat for an Institute group to enter Jordan, for example - and his strategy was always simple: pay attention to the simplest of things. Ever the charmer and supremely generous with his time, Ze'ev knew the name of every secretary in the office of every prime minister, defense minister and IDF chief of staff for the past two generations. And whether it was because of his uncommon decency or the puckish twinkle in his eye, they could never say "no."

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Ze'ev had no ambition except the truth; he had no vanity except the excitement of the scoop; he had no ideology except the pursuit of a secure peace for his people. Was he a dovish hawk or a hawkish dove? It is difficult to say. Ze'ev refused to be pigeonholed or to play a role that others would define for him. But he never refused the chance to humble the mighty or speak truth to power. And still, because he focused on the facts and never traded in rumor, innuendo or the voyeurism that too often passes for journalism, even the mightiest, once humbled, would seek him out once again.

Defense correspondents in Israel have lost their dean. Readers around the world who turn to haaretz.com have lost their analytical guide into Israeli security strategy. Washington policymakers have lost their finest interpreter of the Middle East military equation. And I have lost one of my dearest friends.

Robert Satloff is executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.