Jim Meyer

Mentor for young journalists in Africa, who 'walked into newsrooms a stranger, and walked out a friend'

- 

Jim Meyer normally joked that other human beings had better stories to tell than the stories of their own lives. It was not therefore surprising that he talked little about himself. He encouraged those he met to share their experiences.

"It was a lesson I learnt as a filmmaker focusing on death row prisoners; some committed crimes because they felt neglected by the world," Meyer said in 2010.

Avoiding attention left his friends knowing very little about who Jim Meyer really was. This was the case with a cohort of journalists he met from the east Africa region in 2007 during the rollout of the David Astor Journalism Awards Trust programme, a concept he developed to promote the professional development of promising African journalists. In the end, the journalists would know more about the trust and little about Jim Meyer.

"Jim was a kind and generous soul. Whenever I was in London, he made time for me. He loved the city and always invited me to join him for some of his favourite pleasures: fine dinners, theatre, jazz concerts, or simply wandering around. And he never let me pay for a thing," remembers Rachael Akidi, former BBC head of east Africa.

In his final months, Meyer talked about how he found happiness in sleep due to endless dreams in which he wandered in strange, new places. He spent time doing video conferences - checking on friends, often from east Africa, and sending gifts. He also had a new hobby, watching football, and travelled with friends to watch matches.