Condolences from members of XUNICEF
Sharing a very sad news if you didn't get it already. Bjorn's daughter called from Sweden now that he passed away yesterday. She asked me to share the news with close friends and colleagues. Please keep the family in your prayers.
May his soul rest in eternal peace.
Here is a short brief on our late friend Bjorn, sent to me by one of his many very close friends....
Since his retirement, Bjorn split his time between Tanzania and Sweden. In mid-March this year, he moved from Tanzania to Sweden. He has been mostly alone during the Covid pandemic in Hassleholm, a small town near Malmo while his wife was stranded in Tanzania. His daughter Gabriella lived nearby and maintained regular contact with Bjorn during the lockdown. As Bjron wasn’t reachable on phone on Tuesday, they went to check on him around mid-day. Sadly, they found Bjorn lifeless on the floor. Police and Paramedics were called and they tried CRP on him but could not revive him. He was pronounced dead thereafter. Lately, for almost two/three weeks, he wasn’t feeling well and suffered from migraine and fatigue. Tests were done, but nothing was found diagnostically. Bjorn’s wife will be traveling to Sweden today from Dar Es Salaaam with his youngest daughter Annie. The family will announce the funeral dates shortly.
RIP
Warmest
Basim Kawash
Amman, Jordan
Many thanks for letting us know!!!
The fact is, we are each escorting each other home !!!
May His Soul Rest in Peace🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾!!!
Scholastica
Pretoria 0105, South Africa
My most sincere condolences to his family and friends. He was a dear colleague! May his soul rest in peace.
Barbara
Devastating news! Have known him as a close friend and mentor since 1979! A great human being who shone light on many people! May his Soul Rest In Paradise, an eternal home for us all.
Festo
Very shocking and sad. Bjorn and me we started together with UNICEF in Iringa Tanzania.. we became brothers not just colleagues years to follow..all his children are part of our family as well..I cannot come to term with this sad reality. My heart goes to all of Bjorn's family of lovely children and grand children. May God give them all the strength they need especially at this hour. Bjorn (and Renata as well) will be in our prayers. Rest in Peace.
A great leader and committed colleague. He and Urban strongly influenced our Nutrition policy in addition to their managerial and visionary skills.
May his soul rest in peace.
Carpe diem mes amis.
Umberto
So shocking and devastating news.
May God rest his soul in eternal peace.
Prayers and thoughts go out to the grieving family.
Shamsul
I was so sad to hear the news about Bjorn. I can just imagine how devastated you must be feeling.
I was impressed by Bjorn's personality - a man of vision, quiet and soft spoken with a big heart full of humanity, respect and compassion. And, yet, he was so full of fun. He was really the ideal humanitarian and colleague. His legacy is very important to all those who knew him and to UNICEF in general. He will be missed and he will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace.
Please accept my sincere condolences and my deepest sympathy. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Love and blessings,
Margherita
Great Mentor! Good friend since Africa days!
May his soul Rest In Peace !
Bijaya
Shahid’s Azfar
Thanks for letting us know. So very sad and shocked to know! May he Rest In Peace . My heartfelt condolences to the family.
Regards
Shahida
Yes a dear colleague. RIP dear Bjorn.
Beatrix
Ali Abbas (abbasi2108@gmail.com)
Very sorry to hear this sad news. Heartfelt condolences to the family and friends.
Best regards.
Ali
So sad to hear this! Knew him well during my Ethiopia days, when Urban and he were conceiving and implementing great strategies in JNSP. I was invited several times to Tanzania during their programme preparations in the early 80's, and grew close to both of them.
In 2008, he was the Rep in Addis Ababa, when I revisited Ethiopia with my family, and we had a warm welcome from him. His contribution to children and Unicef will be always remembered.
My heartfelt condolences to his family.
Padmini
Afework Ayele
Very heartbreaking sad news. I know/worked with Bjorn while he was unicef rep in Ethiopia. He was not only a rep, he was more than that, a team leader, a friend, respectful, helpful, humanitarian, etc. He was dedicated and committed for the well-being of children and women.
May God rest his soul in peace.
Afework Ayele
This is a sad news indeed. RIP Bjorn and sincere condolences to all those mourning.
Kiari
Deeply shocked and saddened. Bjorn was a wonderful friend and a mentor for me and many others in Ethiopia. I will always remember his friendly management style and his wonderful sense of humour. May he rest in peace.
Mahendra Sheth
Rohini De Silva
So sad to hear and the nature of his passing away. He was always a fun positive and active unicef champion. Peace to him and his family.
Rohini
Cecilio Adorna
Many good memories of Bjorn during years in ESARO. Friendly and witty. Highly professional. We will miss him. Condolences to the bereaved family.
I only knew Bjorn through what he did in Iringa, for which I had the greatest respect.
He was obviously greatly loved. What a tragic end to his life...
My warmest condolences to his family.
Misrak Elias
Dear Basim
This is sad news. My condolences to Bjorn’s family. May his soul Rest In Peace.
Misrak
My wife Zertihun and I are surprised to learn about Bjorn's sudden death. I too have known him since he first joined UNICEF in Tanzania. He was an internationalist gentleman!
May his soul rest in eternal peace!
Tiruneh Sinnshaw
What a sad end to a successful and productive UNICEF career. I wish Björn’s daughter and family strength in these difficult days. May Björn’s achievements and friendships be a consolation to them!
Rolf Carriere
Heartfelt condolences. Bjorn was a great leader and friend. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
My wife and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Bjorn; a great friend, colleague and champion for children.
I was Bjorn’s deputy for 4 years in UNICEF Tanzania. A great boss! He mentored, taught, directed and led so well and yet with profound humility. He was witty, humorous and very focused. He had the welfare of all staff at heart and yet he retained his focus the UN’s and UNICEF’s mandate and results for children. We always had time for fun, but kept a serious focus on achieving our targets and results.
I know that even after his retirement from UNICEF, he continued to contribute intellectually to sustaining results for children in a changing world. It was a lifetime call for Bjorn.
We have lost a great friend. But his vision, the impressions he had on colleagues and partners and the wonderful results he achieved for children in many countries will live on.
Our hearts go out to Pille, Oskar and the rest of the family at this difficult time. We ask for God to comfort and strengthen you.
Isiye and Sarah
Bjorn is now in a better place. We lost a true globalist and a true internationalist. Rest In Peace.
Ramesh
Michael Corbett
I was shocked to receive this very sad news about Bjorn.....it is hard sometimes to find words and this is one of those days....Bjorn was a great colleague to all of us....a man of great skills and talent but also having a human touch which we came to know so well together with his wonderful sense of humour of course. Bjorn was a good friend to me and many others....we will miss you Bjorn!!! Rest in Peace and my sincere condolences to Bjorn’s family....
Very sad news! Sincere condolences to the family. We lost a wonderful and respectful Human being. Rest In Peace, Björn.
The demise of Bjorn is a very sad news indeed. I warmly remember him as energetic colleague, along with Urban, in the area of public health nutrition and the UNICEF agenda. We saw Bjorn and his wife Pille last time at the UNICEF Reunion, in Zanzibar, September 2016. I captured this pic of him, during the visit at the Spice Community Center,
May he rest in Peace.
Love from Guatemala
Juan Aguilar
Deeply sorry to hear the sad news. My deepest condolence to the family.
Farid Rahman
Very sad and shocked to hear this. Bjorn was a much respected colleague and a great champion of child rights. Heartfelt condolences to his family. May his soul Rest In Peace.
Ayalew Abai
I got the sad news yesterday. Bjørn was a unique and special person in so many ways. While his heart and passion was in Africa, he worked successfully in other parts of the world as well. Thanks for adding the picture of him. My thoughts and prayers go to his wife and the children and grandchildren and the rest of the family and his many friends.
Regards
Karin
Sad to learn of our dear colleague,Bjorn Lindquist's passing.May his soul rest in eternal peace.We were close,I handed over to him the position of the UNICEF Representative for Ethiopia in 2003.He was a man of great gifts, integrity and incomparable humanity and empathy for the downtrodden.May God also give the family and all friends the fortitude to withstand the irretrievably loss!
David
He was the first country rep I ever met and I met him in Ethiopia on my very first field trip for Unicef. The best possible introduction to a complete new world.
He talked to the mind and to the heart. He was both a doer and a thinker.
It is so sad.
Veronique Lonnerblad
May he rest in peace, we have been having so many losses lately, all as great as the other. God rest their souls and Bjorn's.
Dear Pille, Oskar and other family members
I join the many, many friends and former colleagues of Bjorn to express my deep sorrow and pray for strength and fortitude of all of you to bear this great loss.
Bjorn worked in Kenya when I was Rep to that country. So I got to know him.
I am reminded of a statement made by a holy man when we were sad over the passing away of a friend. He said:
IF DEATH IS A SORROW FOR US THE HOPE OF A BETTER LIFE IS OUR CONSOLATION.
With the prayers of the large number of children who have grown to healthy adults and productive citizens as a result of his humanitarian work, the way to a better life hereafter is assured for Bjorn, inshalla
Take care and love to all of you
Baquer Namazi,
(using email address of his Armenian friend)
Cecilia Lotse
We have lost a friend and colleague of grace and good will, a man as much admired for his personal qualities as for his professional achievements, which were indeed impressive. With deepest condolences to his family!
Cecilia Lotse
Some remember Bjorn for his contributions in formulating the triple A process, helping setting up nutritional institutes across east Africa and managing country programs. For me, one of Bjorn's most outstanding contributions was his engineering of the international response to a threatening famine in Ethiopia in about 2003 - his approach of hiring 20 -30 thousand local women as an alternative to rushing in aid from outside, which almost had him PNG'd but which was so successful a colleague in Ethiopia suggested that he should have won the Nobel Peace prize. His paper on this experience deserves to be required reading. For the last several years Bjorn has been a part of HDPI, a non-profit global forum and consulting network. We consulted on a weekly basis on a variety of issues and he was an active member of our weekly forum on global concerns. Our dream and an effort we were working together on was the creation of a special training for journalists on causes and response in nutritional crisis situations, believing that fundamental understandings about the causes and dynamics of famine/malnutrition are being lost and that there remains an urgent need to prepare and encourage a better response. His loss will impact that dream, but if it develops without him, he will be remembered. We remember him as a trusted, reliable, wise practitioner, brilliant in his analysis, humble in his dealings, a mentor and friend. He leaves huge foodprints in the contributions he has made and he was a person from whom you never heard an unkind word, always willing to assist. Like others we think of and wish blessings on his family in this time of loss.
Everett Ressler
I first met Bjorn when we were colleagues in EAPRO, two people with a common grounding of experience in villages of Africa and a belief in the wisdom of answers to be found there. We were later colleagues as oart of Urban’s ESARO team sharing ideas and experiences for addressing HIV and AIDS and subsequent nutrition emergencies. He was a bery special person. Mary and I send condolences to Pille and the family.
Alan
I remember Bjorn so vividly in Tanzania, great field visits to JNSP, great Sundays at the beach, always working but also having fun, soft spoken and smiling Bjorn. Rest in peace!
Marta Maurás
Such terrible news. I met him in East Africa and had the opportunity to collaborate with him working on child survival. A dedicated professional. He will be missed. My condolences to the family.
Esther
Very sad news, heart felt condolences to his family. May his soul Rest In Peace.
Oh, dear Bjorn. My heartfelt condolences with Pelle and the children. The end of an era. Bjorn was everything that was shared and more. While the fame of Bjorn’s work drew me already in 1988 to the integrated nutrition and sanitation program in Iringa, Tanzania taking a Rwanda government delegation there, I had the privilege to work later with Bjorn in Ethiopia for four years all through the 2003 drought. He was indeed the humblest, soft-spoken, kindest leader in UNICEF, so passionate and professional, who anybody rarely get a chance to work with. He and Pelle shared their lives with us (never forget his passion for Africa and African music) and what Bjorn and the team around him was able to achieve in the direst of times was nothing less than phenomenal. He was a gentle stimulator of the work I dealt with in the WASH response to the drought. Without doubt he stimulated many hundreds and indeed thousands in the responses to children. What a great man has passed, but yes, his passion, kindness, professional and leadership will not be forgotten and his legacies will continue. Rest in peace, Bjorn.
Hans
We have lost another giant, however his footprints will remain both in our hearts and in the tremendous energy and commitment he had for children. He has joined so many that have gone ahead, and expects us to continue in the work he did. Child Nutrition and nutrition in emergency along with Urban shaped the Unicef programme.
To Pillie his children, family and friends, as we mourn his physical loss, I say thanks for the love, admiration and support we shared with him, making it possible for him to leave an unforgettable legacy. Will keep you all in our prayers, be strong and rest in the knowledge that he was loved and admired.
Bjorn, go well, a job well done. Your mission amongst us is complete, your tools are down and your hands at rest.
May you rest in eternal peace.
Gloria
What sad and terrible news! My deepest condolences to Pille and the children and to the entire extended family and well-wishers. I too am heartbroken and so very sorry for Bjorn’s untimely departure. A Nutrition and public health giant, a tireless advocate for children’s rights and a lifelong friend of children and families that have been rendered poor has left us. Bjorn was a leader, a teacher, a mentor, and above all a dear friend! Our friendship started off in the early 1980s when we both joined the Joint Nutrition Support Programme (JNSP). Bjorn was in Iringa, Tanzania and I in Maputo, Mocambique until a couple of weeks ago when together Bjorn and I were on a long Zoom call with colleagues at UNICEF Belize helping the team sharpen their nutrition strategy in these times of Covid-19. That was on Wednesday, July 8th.
May His Soul Rest In Perfect Peace.
All best wishes........ Nicholas Alipui M.D.
Very sorry to learn of Bjorn’s death. He was a brilliant, decent and very nice man.
If you are sending anything to his family, please also convey condolences from John and from me
Mehr
May his soul rest in peace. Condolences and comfort to Bjorn's family and friends in this time of grief and loss. We keep them in our hearts and prayers.
Rafah Aziz
Sad news indeed , sincere condolences to Bjorn’s family, friends and all. May his soul rest in peace.
Warm regards
Rafah
I am very saddened hearing this news. Bjorn was a wonderful colleague and a great professional. Always supportive and willing to guide and help.
My sincere condolences to his family
May he Rest in peace.
Regards
Laila Ismail Khan
My sincere condolences to Bjorn’s wife , his children , all his loved ones and friends. His was a life well lived in support of the children, some now adults of the World.
As an Educator, I shall always remember him as a teacher,mentor, counsellor, a trainer, leader who left his footprints as a sign of success. I distinctly remember him walking into a training of trainers course -at the time with one slide. But that slide contained something that impacted most of us for life—-“the triple A” The next time the great teacher and Great learner that he was, had one slide on “the triple A“—but it was growing like a living organism at the Centre and applicable across disciplines and not only Nutrition. He was an amazing gentle person, a great leader with great commitment to what he cherished.
His legacy will live on through his ideas and passion and the impact he had on different generations and peoples from the different locations of the globe.
Will be remembered for the right cause!
Sibeso Luswata
RIP
Maie
I deeply regret the news of Bjorn's passing. He was a wonderful colleague and a loyal friend. I remember so many happy moments with him and Urban Jonsson and the entire nutrition team. I was privileged to spend interesting and enjoyable times in that group.
I relay my sorrow and share the grief of his departure with all of our former colleagues and send my most sincere condolences to his family and friends. Safari Salama rafiki Bjorn.
Jim Mayrides
What a sadness the passing of our friend and colleague Bjorn Ljungqvist a champion for the cause of children. That news shocked me very much.
The last time I saw Bjorn was at the XUNICEF Budapest reunion in July 2015. We had the opportunity to indulge in reminiscence of the good old time in UNICEF and our work together in Rwanda in 1994 during the genocide.
I was the Special Representative of the Executive Director and Bjorn who at that time was a Programme Officer in Uganda was on secondment to the Rwanda Emergency Operations in Nairobi. Given his good knowledge of the Rwanda situation he was able in a short period of time in collaboration with other
colleagues of the Office to develop a short term emergency response interventions to meet the immediate needs of the children trapped in that horrible situation internally displaced hidden in churches, the stadium in Kigali and other places. He was also instrumental in arranging UNICEF support for children in the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) controlled area near the Uganda border. Indeed, I was very fortunate to have a colleague of such a high professional caliber with me.
During the short period of time he was with us in the Rwanda Emergency Operation I could appreciate these beautiful traits that made up his character namely a genuine humane person, professionalism, integrity, respect for diversity, commitment and passion for the cause, an analytical
and strategic thinking combined with humility and a great respect for others views.
I join with colleagues in mourning his untimely departure and express to his wife and children my sincere condolence in this hour of sorrow. I hope they will find some consolation in the thought that one day we shall also depart. Bjorn only preceded us. This is the sad reality of life that we should all face with faith.
May his soul rest in peace!
Fritz Lherisson
A gentle soul, a committed professional, a fighter for children’s rights, a deeply appreciated colleague, a giant human being, Bjorn, is gone from our earthy circles.
With a very heavy heart I am sending my condolences to his wife, his children, his family and his closest friends..
Bjorn, travel well to the stardust, where you ( and all of us) also came from..
Dita
A wonderfully human UNICEF person with a great sense of humour. Condolences to his family,
Elaine Furniss
So many beautiful tributes to a colleague who knew how to live & love & serve. He will be missed.
A wonderful person and a wonderful and humble leader, colleague and friend, Bjorn's life's journey touched so many of us. Some of his great work and publications started before he came to UNICEF, his work as part of Swedish cooperation and the University of Uppsala on improving and expanding the reach of FAFFA supplementary food in Ethiopia and his work with the Tanzanian Food and Nutrition Institute stand out because of the influence they had on nutrition policy and capacity development far beyond the institutions he worked with. Then came Iringa, where I first met him. Much later, in Ethiopia during the massive upsurge of malaria in the Horn of Africa 2003/4 his close friendship with the then State Minister of Health, Tedros (now Director General of the WHO) led to UNICEF playing a key role in dramatically increasing the global availability and supply of insecticidal mosquito nets using Global Fund grants and to split the national medicines distribution system away from the direct control of the Ministry of Health and become semi-autonomous. That, at the same time as Bjorn was supporting the development of the massive Health Extension Worker programme. So many contributions for his family to reflect on with pride.
Our thoughts go out to Pille and the children and grandchildren at this time of grieving. A very sad moment but a life well lived and one to be thankful for.
Rest in Peace, dear Bjorn
Alan and Cynthia
While serving in Belize in the 80s the booklet “We will never go back” about the Iringa experience reached me. It had been sent to all country offices, and in Belize it was photocopied many times over. It became the primary reference guide for addressing child malnutrition in the rural parts of this small Central American country…..a South-South technical exchange long before the concept became popular.
More than thirty years later, UNICEF Tanzania decided to return to Iringa and during our visits to the region, we often heard from local officials about the inspiring Swede, who was the Iringa project’s servant leader in the 80s. We thus asked Bjorn who had recently ‘retired’ to return Iringa to help guide our interventions. He chose to drive from Dar on his own and after reaching full hour after he did (even though we started earlier) the many stories of his daring driving were validated. In Iringa we watched as so many faces lit up with happiness in the town and villages when they saw Bjorn after so many years. He was genuinely respected and loved. His presence brought a warm excitement.
Bjorn has many legacies including his important contribution to the development and introduction the human rights based approach to programming, his work on triple A approach, and sheparding Ethiopia through very a difficult moment……all important….but when I think of him, the strongest memory will always be those joyful faces receiving him in Iringa.
Bjorn has many legacies including his important contribution to the development and introduction the human rights based approach to programming, his work on triple A approach, and sheparding Ethiopia through very a difficult moment……all important….but when I think of him, the strongest memory will always be those joyful faces receiving him in Iringa.
As his life was such a blessing, so Blessed be his beautiful soul.
Goodbye, brother Bjorn, his great deeds and kindness live forever in our hearts and memory.
Warm, thoughtful and gently, thoughtfully humorous, Bjorn was stimulated and guided from behind even when formally in charge. His ability to see through issues, come up with an innovative, effective approach, and find a way to put it into practice was extraordinary. Demonstrating the triple-A approach to and in life, as much as he, together with Urban, was responsible for its conception and ever-continuing development - ensuring that it was a matter of 'heart' as much as 'head', and making the connection to child and human rights from an early point. He was pleased that the triple-A was always positively received in the field, and was brought into many strategies in and beyond UNICEF and nutrition, despite resistance which he sought to respond to. He was at ease acting at, and moving among, the community, country and global levels, and as many have noted, he was deeply and personally appreciated at each of these. During the isolation of the covid-19 lockdown he kept busy and professionally active, reading and discussing books and ideas up to the final weeks.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Bjorn represented the very best of UNICEF. His concern for children and nutrition, well-being and equality animated his work and was a model for all those who met and knew him. He was devoted to his family at every moment. A generous and caring friend and colleague, he is greatly missed.
Sincere condolences and good wishes to Pille and his children and grandchildren in this difficult time
David and Iris
Very sad news! We have lost a leader, a mentor, a great colleague and friend.
May his Soul Rest In Eternal Peace.
My sincere condolences to his wife Pille, the children, family and friends.
Colletta
Very sad news indeed! bjorn was a good friend and a great colleague! I saw him last time when he came to my place in rome while he was working in WFP. My deepest condolences to his family. May he rest in peace,
Gianfranco
Purushottam Pradhan Pradhan
Very sad news. May he rest in peace.
I add my voice to the chorus of gratitude for Bjorn’s life and his leadership in the Region.
Bjorn was a natural facilitator, guiding and gently pushing change within the organization.His understanding of children’s rights was intuitive.
He was a model of leadership in so many ways. Always open for a conversation, always there with a word of encouragement. Strong and steady. A wonderful colleague.
He made a difference.
May he Rest In Peace.
Thanks for conveying my condolences to his family.
Kimberly
Wonderful and humble human being, my deepest condolences to his family and friends, may the lord bless his soul in eternity peace.
I heard from others and then exchanged with Olivia about the passing of Bjorn this week. What a shock to us all and certainly more to you, Annie, Ida, and Pille. My very sincere condolences to the whole family
We met in Tanzania in the mid 80s - the wonderful days of Bjorn and Urban and teams in Tanzania. You were indeed young and over the years (though you will likely not remember) we talked, ran about and I and another family/unicef friend (Jamie i think) played guitar with you. I saw you again in Bangkok - I think it was Idas sweet 16th birthday at TGIFriday! Long ago.
You father was an amazing man - gentle, wise, funny, and kind with an incredible ability to listen to people at all levels. It didn’t mean he always had patience for them but he didn’t show it when he doubted - except occasionally with that sarcastic humor and laugh. He was also fun to watch as a father - helping you each to navigate the world - to find your way without over direction yet so much caring.
I learned again to listen from him, to suspend judgement, to seek compromise, to be a voice for this less powerful and whose wisdom (daily and lived) was neglected. In Bangkok we shared stories of loss and life (you had all lost Renata and I, my partner Gretchen). His kindness and understanding, his awareness of living through pain helped me.
And (along with many) I learned nutrition and rural development keys also from him. I followed him as Deputy in Tanzania - a daunting task given his in-depth knowledge of life, language and programmes there.
So I will miss him now- and I also know that my loss is a fraction of yours. I know there is nothing I can really say that will fill the hole he has left - but know that my thoughts and prayers are with you - hoping to accompany you from a distance during these days and weeks. Bjorn’s spirit will continue t guide us and his gentle wisdom and infectious laugh will stay in our hearts.
Stay strong in this days and weeks and know many others are thinking of you all.
Dan Toole
Colin Glennie
Dear, dear Bjorn. Like so many of your colleagues and friends, you were an inspiration to me, first when I attended one of yours and Urban’s famous nutrition workshops in Zanzibar (one of those rare life-changing learning experiences) and later as a close colleague in the Uganda country office. Always soft-spoken but every word meant something special, whether in a professional or personal context. Hugely respected by staff and counterparts. A gentle man, and UNICEF giant.
If you listen carefully you can hear the women of East Africa ululating their farewell.
We join them, Bjorn.
Colin and Anne
Susan Muza
Farewell to you Bjorn!
Although we never met, we heard your name many times and saw your footprint in Africa. We bless you for these wonderful testimonies and pray that God gives your soul the peace it deserves.
May the Lord comfort the family and colleagues at this difficult time.
Our deepest sympathies.
Susan and Winston
Very saddened by the great loss of Björn Ljungqvist, the great nutritionist Unicef needed so badly at the time when JNSP came into being. Tanzania being part of a group of JNSP countries, Iringa was its flagship. I had a chance to visit in January 1986. I had just joined Unicef a few months before, as chief of Programme Funding Section in Geneva. I was hired by from the banking world and in a top staff meeting in August 1985 Jim decided to send me around the world for six weeks to familiarise myself with Unicef projects. I was lucky that Tanzania was on the list of countries to visit; and so Björn’s path and mine crossed in Iringa.
These were my first impressions of Urban Jonsson and Björn back in 1986 (as recorded in my book A Destiny in the making: from Wall Street to Unicef in Africa, 2018):
Urban turned out to be a passionate nutritionist. He said that nutrition needed considerable strengthening in health programmes. It was important that JNSP succeeded. Unicef had here not one but two staffers with strong nutrition background. There was also a project officer, Björn Ljungqvist, a close friend of Urban’s from university days. Björn was leading a JNSP session there with a large group of villagers that was in the process of evaluating progress in beating malnutrition, improving nutritional habits and the like. Björn was an excellent animator, had a way of listening patiently, taking all his time. It was all very participatory. Everything went on in Swahili that he spoke fluently. It was a couple of hours later that Björn explained to me the highlights of the evaluation.
The last time I saw Björn was at a dinner at his house in Addis in 2004 where I was on an AU mission. There was his his wife Pillie, along with Alex de Waal (also on AU mission) and his wife. Stimulating conversation with lots of laughs in between. There was also some celebratory ambience, as Alex had been appointed professor at Harvard and was on his way to take up the assignment.
Throughout his career Björn has remained a true community development colleague of the best kind.
Please convey my heartfelt feelings to his family and friends.
Boudewijn Mohr
I was so sad to hear about the passing of your husband, father and grandfather. Bjorn was a dear Colleague and friend. He served UNICEF and the Children of the World with Enormous
Devotion. His Vision and Passion for his work inspired us all.... Most importantly, he was a Caring and
Sincere Colleague and Friend... His Legacy and Memory will be Forever...
My prayers are with you, so that God gives you solace to bear his terrible Loss🙏
May he Rest In Peace..
With my sincere Condolences
Rima Salah
What a sad end to a most purposeful life of a great development professional & humanitarian activist.
I too knew Björn from the early days of his association with UNICEF in Tanzania as comrade-in-arms with the inimitable Urban Jonsson leading the pioneering Iringa nutrition project. I learned a lot and admired greatly how Bjorn & Urban contributed to UNICEF Nutrition Strategy featuring the Triple-A approach.
I had the opportunity to interact and collaborate with him throughout his multiple UNICEF assignments - in Cambodia, Ethiopia, and briefly in Bangkok where Bjorn was my Deputy when I arrived there as EAPRO regional director.
A professional of great competence and integrity, Bjorn was a warm and caring human being with an infectious sense of humor. I join other colleagues in expressing my sincere sympathy to his family and friends. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
Kul Chandra Gautam
What a shock to learn of Bjorn’s sudden passing. Please know that I send my deepest condolences to you during this very difficult moment. You are all in my heart and thoughts.
I am an old unicef-er from East and Southern Africa and although I never had the privilege of working directly with Bjorn, he had a huge presence and influence across the region and through his leadership, I learned so much over the years. He and his good friend Urban made me feel a part of the unicef family and the experience had a huge impact on my life. Bjorn made a tremendous difference in the lives of so many in the region and he will be long remembered and celebrated.
May this bring some little comfort. Sending you all my love, energy and strength.
Sue Godt
To a UNICEF colleague much admired. Even through tough times, he was always extremely supportive and warmly welcoming. It was a delight to work with him in Cambodia for the brief months on assignment in the early 90s (in preparation for the first csec congress), and I very much appreciated and grew from his sharp analysis and gentle mentoring. Not to omit the spirited bantering between Urban, Rozanne and Bjorn, which kept me engaged, slightly amused and always learning.
My condolences to the family.
Madeline
We are very sorry to hear about Bjorn´s death. As Juan mentioned, we also keep such good memories of our trip to Tanzania where we had so much fun thanks to Bjorn, Pollie- his wife, Urban and friends. Afterwards we met with Bjorn in UNICEF Egypt so I had the opportunity to meet him as a professional. He was of great support advising the Egyptian Government in Nutrition. He will be missed for his energy to live and love as well as for his expertise.
Rest in peace dear friend and our deepest condolences to Pille and the whole family.
Ovidio and Maria Elena
What sad news!
Bjorn was such a great colleague and such a lovely person. He did so much, but stayed a modest humble man with a huge heart. He was the best of Unicef.
Deep sympathies to his family and all his many friends
Sally
Very sad to hear Bjorn's sudden death, I knew him as a professionals colleague. I remember we had a very lively discussion about his work when I visited him during his service as Representative in UNICEF Ethiopia. He will be remembered for his continued advocacy and contribution for the well-being and the rights of children in Africa.
My condolence to the family.
May his soul rest in Eternal Peace
Tewabech
Extremely saddened to hear about Bjorn’s passing. He was such a good person and a dear colleague. I pray for the repose of his Soul and for the courage for the family
to bear the Incalculable loss.
Keshab Mathema