Former presenter and journalist Willibrord Frequin passed away on Thursday at the age of 80. His family has informed the ANP news agency. According to his family, Frequin died “peacefully” in his sleep and had “reconciled with the inevitable end, after a loving and wonderful life.” He had been struggling with Parkinson’s disease and heart failure for some time.
Frequin was best known as a reporter for the KRO program Focal point, for which he interviewed Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa, among others. In 1976 he was the only journalist to ask Prince Bernhard van Lippe-Biesterfeld what he thought of the accusation against him regarding the Lockheed affair, a bribery scandal in which the prince received bribes from the American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed in the early 1960s. In 1989, Frequin was fired from the program for allegedly staging an episode about trafficking in body parts.
Also read: Focal Minus: Back to Frequin’s Main Affair
Afterwards, Frequin made programs for RTL 4, RTL 5 and SBS 6. He stated in the confrontational news program Willibrord’s Week addressing injustice in society. He did this in such a direct manner that his method was seen as controversial.
In January, Frequin made in an interview with The Telegraph known to have a few months to live after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease last year. “I can’t do it anymore, it’s done, it’s over,” he said then.