THE LARGER than life character is no more.
I never met him but Jeremy Mansfield introduced himself to you through the mic.
His passing as a result of cancer brought awareness on how deadly this disease is to the society.
At times I used to listen to his popular ‘Rude Awakening’ on 947 (formerly Highveld Stereo) morning show- he ‘killed’ it, as always.
He died at the age of 59.
Messages of condolences continue to stream in from local and afar.
His friend and former colleague radio broadcaster David O’Sullivan shared a special tribute to his friend and colleague on Facebook following his death.
“Jeremy didn’t have this great voice. He wasn’t like John Berks. But he could act, and he could play, he could play characters, and he understood theatre, and he understood theatre of the mind.”
O’Sullivan says he and Mansfield had their own way of communicating.
“He and I, in all those years, developed our language, our slang. And we just communicated. It was ridiculous,” he says, joking about how when they got married, their wives “just couldn’t understand what we were saying because we had our own way of talking to each other.”
Their special language continued right until their last goodbye.
“One of the things we always would say to each other, we never said goodbye, we’d always say, ‘I’ll smell you’.” And so, when I saw him the very last time, I said, ‘Jerome, I’ll smell you.’ He said, ‘I’ll smell you’. And I knew it would be the last time.”
Yes, he was a “champion of the airwaves”.
At the time of publishing, the family confirmed funeral service will remain an intimate affair, and a public memorial will be held thereafter.
Rest eternally in Peace Jeremy- the mic has fallen, others will have to pick it up!
Image (Lived his life to the fullest. Jeremy Mansfield will be sorely missed by all).
