Gwen Akiko Robinson, RIP (see full obituary) – FCCT
{1st Photo Caption: Gwen moderating a panel at the FCCT}
Gwen Akiko Robinson,
12 March 1960 – 29 March 2025, RIP (see full obituary)
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand – FCCT
1 April 2025 at 08.39
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand expresses its deepest condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of Gwen Robinson, the FCCT’s current past president and Nikkei Asia editor at large. She died early on Saturday morning at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok after a long and courageous battle with cancer that she rarely mentioned.
Gwen’s funeral rites in Bangkok begin this evening. Her premature passing has prompted an outpouring of grief and disbelief from around the world:
“Gone too soon and too young,” said FCCT President Elaine Kurtenbach. “Gwen will be deeply missed, for so many reasons. She kept the club going during the dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and did so very much for so many people. Her warmth and generosity changed my life as it did those of so many others, and she set an example of courage and determination to live life absolutely to the fullest.”
“She was an incredible person — kind, funny, brilliant, sometimes acerbic, helping people in need everywhere,” said Narisa Chakrabongse, a Bangkok-based publisher. “Above all she was an amazing friend. I will miss her more than I can say.”
An Australian and British citizen born in Japan to an Australian father and Japanese mother, Gwen graduated from the Australian National University in Canberra. At the time of her death, she was also a senior fellow at Chulalongkorn University’s Institute of Security and International Studies.
From 1995 to 2013, she was a senior editor and correspondent with the Financial Times, latterly based in Bangkok covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. She held numerous positions at the FT, including eight years in London as comment editor, foreign desk editor and online news editor. She was also posted to Tokyo, Jakarta, Washington and other FT bureaus.
Gwen worked as a freelance Southeast Asia correspondent in the 1980s, with time in the Philippines that included the People Power Revolution in 1986 before moving to Bangkok and then Tokyo.
Much of her later work in Bangkok was focused on Myanmar as it underwent major political and economic changes that continue to unfold. In her final hours on the 27th floor of the hospital, she was rocked by strong tremors from an earthquake in Sagaing near Mandalay, Myanmar, and in an ill-judged move was temporarily relocated.
Gwen moderated her last Myanmar programme at the FCCT on March 10, and had to be helped from her seat. She served as club president in 2019 and 2020. As a past president, she remained a key board member and was passionately involved in programming.
“When I said goodbye to her in late January, we both knew it was probably the last time,” said Laetitia van den Assum, a retired Dutch ambassador who continues to monitor Myanmar closely. “I have rarely met a journalist with an address book as large as Gwen’s. It included many in the diplomatic community, where she was highly respected.”
“Gwen was an insightful reporter, commentator and editor, and a journalist steeped in Asia from her family background through her academic training to her long and varied career,” said Andrew Gowers, her editor at the Financial Times over 20 years ago. “She was also enormous fun to be with, as anyone who worked with her in the field can attest. Her voice and her zest for life and the region will be widely missed.”
“Gwen’s energy and commitment to journalism set an impossibly high bar for many of us,” said Michael Vatikiotis, a former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review and former FCCT president.
“She was a tireless and effective networker; she was generous to a fault and she stayed the course when others grew bored. Beneath her steely and sometimes truculent exterior lurked a kind and gentle soul with a huge heart and a soft spot for the underdog. At Nikkei, Gwen helped many of us get published in an increasingly sparse and frugal news environment. She was a strict editor with strong views of her own — but that’s what good writers need. Gwen’s devotion to the FCCT, carrying us all through the pandemic with flair and skill, will long be remembered.”
“My heart is heavy,” posted Nirmal Ghosh, an FCCT past president and former Straits Times correspondent. “We travelled together a few times back in the day in Burma… We squabbled a lot on the road; she joked that we were like an old married couple! Even in this sadness, memories of her bring a smile. Just the other month we were out for a drink at the jazz bar at the Kimpton in Bangkok and the waitress had to ask her twice to stop vaping behind her white napkin. ‘Can’t take you anywhere,’ I told her. Gwen just rolled her eyes at me and carried on.”
“Gwen’s favor to a young journalist was like sunlight to a plant,” said Francesca Regalado, Nikkei Asia’s departing correspondent in Thailand. “When I arrived in Bangkok three years ago, Gwen took me under her wing, encouraged my reporting instincts, praised and critiqued my stories. It’s hard to fathom never getting a late-night phone call from her again or an all-caps email, or plotting reporting trips or hearing her war stories. Since we lost her amid the earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand, the only thing that has kept me going is her voice in my head, saying, “Get on with it, we have a story to cover.”
“Gwen’s networking skills were exemplary, and her passion for Myanmar inspiring,” said Panu Wongcha-um, a senior correspondent with Reuters and returning FCCT president. “But it will be the general conversation about work and life with her that I shall miss most. She was a motherly figure in my journalism career.”
“As those who worked for her will confirm, whatever time zone you were in, Gwen would answer your emails displaying her preternatural capacity to eschew sleep in favour of work,” journalist Fiona MacGregor recalled.
One very late night in Yangon, she was on the floor of a mutual friend’s flat in Yangon, alternating between frantically typing, smoking and doing an occasional yoga exercise,” recalled veteran Dutch journalist Minka Nijhuis. “It was then that I started wondering if this woman ever slept.”
“Gwen often sent long, stream of consciousness emails in the middle of the night, and was notorious for her unpunctuality,” said Dominic Faulder, another FCCT past president and a Nikkei Asia associate editor. “She could exasperate treasurers, but her utter devotion to the club and worthwhile causes, particularly vulnerable regional journalists, was never in doubt. She was a force of nature with so much still to give.”
“What a force you were,” posted Cherie Hart, an old friend. “You were like no one else in your generosity, loyalty and intensity. Your exit has left a gaping hole in our world.”
“I am smiling through tears as I savour your humour, wit, outrageousness and irreverence, as well as your eye rolls and your ‘Well, I dont know about thats,’ said in your gravelly, jazz singer’s voice,” posted close friend Lyndal Barry. “But beyond your sometimes sharp elbows was such a kind and thoughtful soul, who I loved. See you on the other side girlfriend…”
“I met her in Tokyo in 1995, so I have known her as long as I have been a correspondent,” posted Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia editor of The Times. “She was fierce, warm, dynamic and loyal. I have never known anyone who had so many friends — genuine and intimate friends, not superficial acquaintances. She had the gift of intimacy. She made life funnier and more interesting.”
“Larger than life is just three words, but its picture in my mind is Gwen Robinson,” said Sean Turnell, the Australian economic adviser to State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi prior to their imprisonment in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital.
“When I saw her last Thursday, in a touching moment, she asked to hold my hand,” wrote Vatikiotis. “It was warm and full of life! She fought to the very end. Vale Gwen. Your legacy lives.”
Funeral arrangements:
Wat Hua Lampong, Bangkok
(MRT Samyan station)
Pavilion No.17 (open 5 to 8pm)
Tuesday, April 1, Buddhist chanting
6.30 to 7pm
Wednesday, April 2, Buddhist chanting
6.30 to 7pm
Thursday, April 3, Cremation
4pm – Recommended arrival at least 30 minutes ahead
Friday, April 4, Wake at FCCT Clubhouse, 6.30 pm
Gwen Robinson with brother Mark, who was with her in her final days.
Gwen Robinson horsing around at the FCCT with Elaine Kurtenbach, her most recent successor as club president.
Gwen, front right, in her element with FCCT board members at a lunch for Chulalongkorn University’s Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak, second from left.
Gwen with returning FCCT President Panu Wongcha-um.
Gwen with close friend Cherie Hart.
Gwen with buddies at an FCCT Christmas dinner.
Gwen with significant partner in crime Lyndal Barry.
Source Link: FCCT
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The FCCT will be open to all for this celebration of the life of Past President Gwen Robinson, who passed away in Bangkok early on March 29.
