Komla Dumor

Komla Afeke Dumor was a Ghanaian journalist who became one of the best-known African faces in international broadcasting as the main presenter of Focus on Africa on BBC World News. He died suddenly on 18 January 2014, aged 41.

Early life and education

He was born on 3 October 1972 in Accra. His father, Ernest Dumor, was a sociology professor, and his grandfather was the composer Philip Gbeho, who wrote the music of Ghana's national anthem. He began pre-clinical medicine at the University of Jos in Nigeria and then medicine at the University of Ghana, but graduated in sociology and psychology. He later earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Joy FM

He made his name as host of the morning show on Joy FM in Accra, and in 2003 the Ghana Journalists Association named him Journalist of the Year.

BBC

He joined the BBC in London in 2006 to present Network Africa on radio, and from 2008 to 2012 presented The World Today on the World Service. From 2011 he presented World News and Africa Business Report on BBC World News, and in 2013 he became the lead presenter of Focus on Africa, the BBC's first daily English-language TV news programme for African audiences. That year New African magazine named him one of the 100 most influential Africans. At the time of his death he was the only West African newsreader on BBC World News.

Death

He died of a heart attack at his home in London on 18 January 2014. The BBC's global news director called him "a leading light of African journalism".