I have many, and it's really hard to narrow it down to just one. So I won't!

Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Idiot is perhaps my favorite novel of all time (Or perhaps tied for favoritest with Anna Karenina and East of Eden)

Terry Pratchett: One of my favorite people ever. What a genius. No one else can make me laugh and think deeply at the same time like he can.