Tanya Willmer, December 10, 1962 — June 15, 2025

JOURNALIST and international bureau chief Tanya Willmer died on June 15, aged 62, following a brief battle with colon cancer.

Tanya started her career in her home town as a reporter for the Henley Standard before working in bureaus across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa as a correspondent for Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Born in Northwood in London to parents Katie and Peter Willmer on December 10, 1962, Tanya was the eldest of four children, her siblings being Sarah, Andy and Lisa.

The family moved to Stonor in 1972 and Tanya attended Trinity Junior School in Vicarage Road, before taking her O-levels at Gillotts School.

While at secondary school, she enjoyed playing tennis and hockey and was described by her brother Andy as popular, as well as “smart, politically sharp and a voracious reader”.

She began studying at the former South Oxfordshire Technical College, now The Henley College, in 1980 where she completed A-levels in politics, history and English.

After leaving school, Tanya began working for the Henley Standard in the autumn of 1982. The paper supported her training and gave her a grounding for a career in journalism that would span the next 40 years.

After leaving the Standard in 1984, Tanya moved to Hong Kong to work for the South China Morning Post where she was later talent-spotted by news agency Reuters.

Tanya worked for Reuters in Sydney for two years before moving to Toronto in the early Nineties against the backdrop of the Quebec referendum. Her experience living in a bilingual country led her to appreciate the value of a second language as an agency journalist and this informed her decision to move to Montpellier in southern France for a year to learn French.

She was quickly recruited by Agence France-Presse in 1996 where she began working on the Europe-Africa English desk in Paris.

During this time Tanya’s diligence, hard-nosed journalism and engaging personality established her as a prized operator, according to friend and former Reuters correspondent Paul Casciato.

Over the next few years she moved around with the agency and AFP assigned her to their Middle East English Desk in Nicosia, after which she held positions in Jerusalem, Paris desk, head of desk in Nicosia, head of desk in Hong Kong, head of desk in Paris. In 2021, she achieved her dream role as East Africa bureau chief in Nairobi.

Throughout her career, Tanya built a reputation as a journalist with meticulous attention to detail, setting high standards for those around her, all while being described as incredibly supportive of her colleagues and the young journalists she mentored.

She was remembered by her sister Sarah, friends and colleagues for her warm smile, laugh and razor-sharp wit.

Her brother Andy said Tanya was someone who was keen to hold those in power to account.

He said: “She was fierce in terms of getting the true facts and details and cutting through political waffle. That was true not just with politicians and world leaders but also with people in her own company. She was someone who genuinely really loved what she did, and fought for it.”

Chris Lefkow, AFP’s former head of the MENA English desk in Nicosia, said: “One of Tanya’s greatest strengths was her fearlessness in challenging the editorial hierarchy.

“Frequently, she was right, and her questioning produced better copy. She made those around her better journalists.”

Sarah Edmonds, the former managing editor for Europe who worked with Tanya at Reuters Toronto in the early Nineties, described her as a “fantastic colleague”.

She added: “Smart, energetic and unfailingly hilarious. The world has lost a terrific journalist, and we are all the poorer for it.”

Paul Casciato, who had remained close to Tanya since their days in the Reuters Toronto bureau, recalled her lively personality.

He said: “She laughed with you, inspired you to be a better journalist and colleague. She breezed into our lives with that husky laugh and those sparkling eyes and you were at once captivated by her fizzing joie de vivre.”

A funeral service for Tanya was held at Père Lachaise Crematorium in Paris yesterday (Thursday). She is survived by her parents Katie and Peter Willmer, her sister Sarah and brother Andy.

Tanya will be commemorated with a placard on the journalists’ altar at St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street, the historic home of the British press.