As religion reporters, we get the chance to meet all sorts of interesting people on this beat-and occassionally, a few especially nice ones. Such was the case with Evan Silverstein, the reporter for Presbyterian News Service who was found dead at home on Nov. 9. He was just 42.

The cause of death, apparently, was a massive heart attack. Evan seemed the picture of perfect health, and as PNS director Jerry Van Marter put it in an email, “he probably never knew what hit him.”

But his loss hits the religion beat hard. Evan may not have been the best known reporter out there, and a lot of A-list reporters might dismiss him as someone from the church press. But that wasn’t Evan. He was one of the most professional, helpful and collegial guys I’ve run across on the beat, and he will be missed far beyond PC(USA) headquarters in Louisville.

Shane Whisler, the communications director for the Presbyterians’ Synod of the Sun, had this to say: “When covering an event or helping lead it for the last nine years, I stopped sweating anytime I saw Evan. `Ah, Evan is here,’ I’d think. `We can be sure the story will be told.’ I’m sad that we have to tell Evan’s story now.”

Peter Smith at the Louisville Courier Journal put it this way on his blog: “Evan told me of how his goal was never to quit in spite of the pressures, and instead to keep doing his job as well as he could as long as he could. And he did-part of the two-person crew that set a standard for excellence among denominational news services. He won numerous awards. It’s fitting that a memorial fund established in his name honors the work he did in helping publicize the struggles of migrant farm workers in Florida for better conditions-including a boycott of Louisville-based Yum! Brands. His obit notes that Silverstein, although himself Jewish, “displayed a far better understanding of and appreciation for the mission and ministry of the PC(USA) than many Presbyterians.”

Or, as Van Marter put it so succinctly, “Though he was Jewish, Evan turned out to be a better Presbyterian than many of the Presbyterians I know.”

We’ll miss you, Evan. Godspeed.