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RMS is a great visionary: his greatest contribution has been the formation of the FSF and the GPL, and evangelizing them.

However, does the FSF need RMS anymore? Or is it better off without him?

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This is a great question. What is the cost/benefit to the mission of the FSF of keeping RMS in a leadership position? I guess this depends on the stated mission of the FSF. If its evangelizing for software freedom then RMS himself is too much of the story to do that effectively anymore I think. If its to promote RMS and give him a platform then he must stay. If its to do practical organizational work to support free software projects then RMS is easily replacable. If its to write free software the last I checked RMS really hasn't contributed much in the way of code in years.

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