Funeral arrangements are pending for Mickey Gabbai, the legendary sergeant major of Israel Defense Forces Radio, who died Monday at the age of 50, after a three-month battle with cancer.

Gabbai came to the station at the start of the 1990's and left in August 2004. Journalists under his command included Yunit Levi, Tamar Ish-Shalom, Sivan Rahav-Meir. From IDF Radio he went to the office of the chief education officer, where he held a similar position until the detection of his disease.