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The bicyclist who died Friday after colliding with a dump truck in downtown Berkeley was a renowned Israeli psychology professor, authorities said.

Shlomo Bentin, 65, was riding his bicycle in the 2100 block of Bancroft Way, west of Fulton Street, about 3:40 p.m. when the crash occurred, an Alameda County Coroner's Bureau official said.

Bentin was wearing a helmet, which was shattered in the crash, police said. He was transported to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he died at 4:14 p.m., authorities said.

After the crash, some witnesses asked a passing motorcyclist to go after the truck because they believed the driver unknowingly hit him. The truck returned to the scene, and the driver was interviewed by police. The collision is under investigation, and police said there is also a chance Bentin crashed into a parked vehicle.

He is survived by his wife, Miri, three children and seven grandchildren, colleagues said.

Bentin was a professor of psychology and education at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. In April, he was awarded the Israel Prize in Psychology in a special Israel Independence Day ceremony in Jerusalem.

He also frequently visited UC Berkeley, where he conducted research experiments while collaborating with several professors.

Colleagues around the globe Saturday remembered Bentin as a towering figure in his field of neuropsychology and as a family man with a restless intellect who enjoyed travel,

good food and wine.

"Shlomo was a giant figure in human brain research with a long and distinguished record of accomplishments providing seminal insights into how the human brain works," said Robert T. Knight, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience. "We lost a great friend, a great human being and a stellar scientist."

Bentin was one of the founders of Hebrew University's Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation and of the Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory, which promoted research in neuroscience and neuropsychology, said Leon Deouell, chairman of the psychology department at the university.

"He made numerous contributions to science and the community, from initiating programs for clinical neuropsychology to changing the way reading is taught in elementary schools, based on scientific research," Deouell said.

Ayelet Landau, who studied with Bentin in Jerusalem and earned a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, said Bentin had a charismatic and warm personality that made working with him a unique experience.

"His enthusiasm was contagious, and his caring and warm personality generated a very special lab environment," Landau said in an email sent from Germany. "The lab felt very much like one big family. He cared, nurtured and promoted his students relentlessly."

Bentin recently had been working with UC Berkeley professor Lynn Robertson on a project that focused on neuropsychology and visual perception and was funded with a grant by the National Institutes of Health, colleagues said.

"He will be missed by many people all over the world," Landau said.

Contact Chris De Benedetti at 510-353-7011 and Natalie Neysa Alund at 510-293-2469.