While it is normally noisy in a newsroom, it is a lot quieter these days. Yes, the news is always going on, but we still stand still. Our former colleague Jeroen Willems (44) passed away yesterday in his hometown of Groningen.
A much-loved colleague, husband and father of two young children is already terribly missed. Jeroen died of cancer.
Despite his young age, Jeroen was considered a fixture in Northern journalism for many years. As an intern, he joined the editorial staff of RTV Drenthe in Assen in 2006. During those three months of internship, the cheerful, cheerful Jeroen absorbed as much radio and television knowledge as possible.
With success. He stuck around as a freelancer, only to land his first contract months later. Ultimately, he stayed until June 2020, after which he used his journalistic skills a little further north.
But first Assen. The place where he took one of his first professional, journalistic steps. Little did he know then that he would sink his teeth into tough files over the years. But also a place where he made many colleagues laugh to tears at the most bizarre and funny reports.
Jeroen quickly became a favorite of many at the Asser offices. Not only because of his skills in the field of radio and television production. But also because of his collegiality and his concern for others.
There was the time he was on picket duty as a reporter and was called up. After he had finished and reported to the editorial office, he saw two colleagues who were still up to their ears in work.
“The time ran out so much that we didn’t catch the last train back. Jeroen waited especially until two o’clock at night and took us home,” one of them recalls.
It characterized the collegial Jeroen, who also quickly emerged as a source of information for younger colleagues who were new. “I saw him as an example. Being serious when necessary, but also a joke when possible,” recalls a former colleague.
Over the years, Jeroen sank his teeth into several tough court files. The case of Sharleyne – the girl who was pushed or fell from the ten floors of an apartment building in Hoogeveen – made a deep impression. Just like the story about the murder of Berend Smit and the Veenendaal couple by the ‘murder brothers’ Admilson and Marcos R.
Willems patiently followed the complicated matters and managed to explain them as clearly as possible to the viewers on television.
But the now seasoned reporter was more than just serious reports. As colorful as he often dressed, the quips in the so-called ‘bouncers’ he regularly made were also cheerful. Feel free to call them reports with a big wink.
For example, he filmed jumping rabbits during the Noordshow in Assen, he presented – dressed in a black and white checkered sweater that resembled a finish flag – during the TT week a program with famous people from Drenthe on Solexes and he was also not afraid to ask people eating ice cream in nice weather if they enjoyed the first nice summer day.