On Sunday, the world lost a great leader.

King Hussein of Jordan died Sunday morning after a long battle with cancer. He fought with the disease twice — first in 1992 with kidney cancer and then in 1998-99 with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Hussein’s country, Jordan, is small geographically in comparison with its neighbors Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but it holds a crucial role in the volatile relations of the Middle East — a role secured by Hussein’s leadership during his 46-year reign.

Although Hussein lost the West Bank and Jerusalem to Israel in 1967, he eventually made peace with the Israelis in 1994.

Hussein also was instrumental in the Wye River peace accord last year, negotiating talks between Israel and the Palestinians, even though he was already very sick.

In fact, Israeli President Ezer Weizman called Hussein “one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, a brave soldier who fought for peace.”

Hussein kept fighting his illness as long as he could, but now that he is gone, there is a void in the Middle East where there once was stability.

Without him to assuage the egos of the area’s leaders and to calm the fears of the region’s people, the Middle East runs the risk of once again falling out of its tenuous peace and back into fighting.

Hussein’s son Abdullah, who was sworn in as king Sunday afternoon, has vowed to continue his father’s policies of peace. Hopefully, the son learned well from his father.

But for now, the world mourns the absence of this great leader, who taught everyone the value of peace.