Oh, he was such a magnificent person. The first time I met him, he already knew who I was and he treated ME like a celebrity, but yet he was a folk idol to me. Every time thereafter, he treated me like a long-lost friend. He was a true mensch, and such a nice person - and so funny.

Here's the obituary from the American Folklife Center:

The American Folklife Center is sad to relay news of the passing of Joe Hickerson. The former AFC Archive Head died peacefully yesterday morning at around 10:30 a.m. in his care home in Portland, Oregon. Joe was an important public face for AFC and for folklore and folk music more generally. His passing will be seen as the end of an era among folk music enthusiasts. The AFC staff sends condolences to all of Joe’s family and friends, especially his son Mike and his partner Ruth Bolliger.

Joe Hickerson was born on October 20, 1935. He learned to sing and play the guitar as a child and became seriously interested in folksong while at Oberlin College. During his senior year he was elected first President of the Oberlin Folk Song Club, helped organize the first Oberlin Folk Festival in May 1957, and joined an eight-piece folk group called "The Folksmiths," which toured summer camps in the summer following his graduation.

The following year, he entered graduate school at Indiana University, where he studied folklore, ethnomusicology, and anthropology under such legendary scholars as Richard M. Dorson and George Herzog, earning a masters degree in folklore. He also began to appear as a solo artist at folk clubs and coffeehouses, hosted a radio show, and got his start as a folklore archivist. In 1963, he was hired by the Library of Congress as a reference librarian in the Archive of Folk Song, which eventually became the American Folklife Center archive. Joe retired as head of the archive in 1998.

Joe was an important resource beyond AFC. For years he ran the “Song Finder” column in Sing Out! Magazine, in which he answered people’s questions about traditional songs and their appearances in the folk scene and in popular culture. As a musician, Joe recorded several albums of his own, and is best known as singer of the first folk revival recording of "Kumbaya" (with the Folksmiths) and co-author of "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" (with Pete Seeger).

At the link, see and hear Hickerson tell the story of his time at AFC in his own words, in an interview with American Folklife Center Ethnomusicologist and Folklorist Jennifer Cutting.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689471/?loclr=fbafc