Journalist and TV presenter Anil Ramdas dies

Dutch-Surinamese writer, journalist and TV presenter Anil Ramdas has died. The news was confirmed this morning by the NRC Handelsblad newspaper for which he wrote.

Ramdas died on Thursday, on his 54th birthday, at his home in Loenen. The exact cause of his death is not clear. A family member says he “died at a self-chosen moment”. Some media say he committed suicide. Ramdas is survived by a son and a daughter.

Anil Ramdas was born in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname in 1958. He went to Amsterdam to study geography, which took him to India and Curaçao to conduct research.

After returning to the Netherlands he campaigned for asylum seekers and refugees. He then started a career as a journalist and later became an essayist, correspondent, and TV and radio presenter.

In 1997 he was awarded the E. du Perron-prize for all of his works.

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