I come late and very sadly to the news that Steve Collins died suddenly at the start of this month.

I found out thanks to this moving blog about Steve by the lovely Yvonne Coghill of the NHS Institute's Breaking Through programme, highlighted on Twitter by HSJ editor Alastair McLellan.

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I'd been introduced to Steve by the late, great Professor Bob Sang, and both men were cut from the best materials there are in this world: honesty, courage, good judgment, loyalty.

Steve wrote in his tribute for Bob, It’s hard to imagine an NHS without Bob. He was a close work colleague and a friend. He has been really key to some major pieces of work that I am doing and have done; but mainly, I feel an awful sense of loss – his boyish smile and infectious laugh, his wise counsel and lateral perspective, his awesome contact list (of course), but mainly his lovely personality and friendship. The service will never be the same again".

Many people who knew Steve may feel that also describes Steve pretty nicely.

He was a kind, warm, wise, human being. He was in the prime of his life, too.

It's a beautiful, sunny evening, but the news about Steve sends a chill down my spine.

Rest in peace, Steve: I drink to your life.