Messages of condolences are pouring in for popular Heart FM journalist Roi Simpson, who sadly passed away on Wednesday.
The 51-year-old dad of two joined Heart in July 2013 as a copywriter in the programming department, before being promoted to news editor in September 2015, introducing the Heart audience to the popular midday segment “The Lunchtime News Wrap”.
On 24 November, Roi collapsed inside the Heart studio after suffering an asthma attack and was rushed to Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital by colleagues. His former colleague and family spokesperson Saya Pearce-Jones says: “He was hospitalised in Chris [Barnard] since then and declared brain dead on 4 December.
“Adrian Botha [who works on the Drive Show] and Lunga Singama are the ones who drove Roi to hospital, as it was peak-hour traffic and the ambulances had said they could only get there in 28 minutes.”
According to Saya, there will be no “big memorial service or funeral” for Roi, as per his family’s wishes.
She adds: “After we received news of his brain death earlier this month, Roi’s mom, Frankie Simpson, was joined by his nearest and dearest colleagues for a candlelight vigil at Christiaan Barnard Hospital where we prayed for him and his medical team.
“The best way to honour Roi’s legacy now is to commit to shining his light on the world by being a kind, democratic citizen and supporting the journalism fraternity.”
Colleague Aden Thomas said Roi was “a top-class guy. Our professional history dates back to the early 2000s and we worked together across several radio stations and also a few training projects in that time. Lightning-quick wit, die-hard activist, hard-core hippy and an eternal rebel – damn, our industry has truly lost the last of the tie-dyed Mohicans!”
HeartFM Managing Director Renee Redelinghuys said Roi’s vision for their audience was to “stay tuned while enjoying insightful news, broken down into ‘accessible’ radio reportage.”