A great composer and a guy with a wicked sense of humour - even the mention of his name brings a smile to my face, even at this time.
I was fortunate enough to meet and work with him a couple of times whilst at university (Huddersfield was a specialist contemporary music university and he was a regularly featured composer) and he always came across as a guy who never took himself too seriously, which is a criticism I would aim at many contemporary composers.
For me the most enduring Ligeti story is when he was commisioned to write a piece of music for a festival he had no intention of ever working for again (something in their past relationship). The fee was large enough that he couldn't turn it down.
The festival kept asking for information about the piece and he said it would be no problem, the orchestra wouldn't be needed and he would supply the information by the concert date. Well, the date of the concert came and nothing had been heard. The concert started with the stage covered in a large sheet and Mr Ligeti on stage. He removed the sheet to reveal a bunch of metronomes (all mechanical) - he set them all off (at different speeds), bowed and left the stage. The "music" was the relationship between the various tempi and the gradual winding down of each of the mechanical actions.
He found the whole thing very amusing, the festival took it seriously and praised it as a great piece of music
If only all composers had a lighter attitude to their works
A great guy, a great loss.