Former Post news editor dead at 32

Former Prague Post news editor Jeffrey White died of cancer at his family's home in Newtown, Conn. on June 29. He was 32.

White was diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a cancer affecting the eye, in the spring of 2006, while living in Prague. As a result, he lost his eye. He moved to Berlin in 2007 to be with the woman he loved, Nicole Zimmerman, whom he had met in Prague two years earlier. In December 2008, his cancer returned and quickly metastasized.

In the final month of his life, White fulfilled his biggest dream: marrying Nicole. The two were wed June 6 in Bonn, Nicole's hometown. At the wedding, White said he was happy and "hoping for a miracle cure." He died less than four weeks later.

White was born July 20, 1976, in South Africa. Later, his American parents settled in New England. After getting a journalism degree from Boston College, White continued with graduate work at Boston University and reported as an intern at the Wall Street Journal. From 2001 to '05, he worked at the Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts but dreamed of a career as a foreign correspondent.

He moved to Prague in 2005 and became news editor at the Post, where he will always be loved and remembered equally for his journalism talent and eccentricities. He foreswore white, cream-based foods: no mayonnaise, no cream cheese, no sour cream. He even drained the milk from his spoon when eating cereal and claimed he was "deathly allergic to mayonnaise."

Adam Cardais, a former Post business editor and White's best friend, said the two years White spent in Prague were among his happiest. In addition to working at the Post, White traveled extensively in Europe and reported from more than 15 countries. His news reporting and essays have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the international edition of Der Spiegel, among other publications.

Cardais spent Thanksgiving with White in Paris two years ago. He recalls that, after dinner their first night in the city, they stopped at a café for some wine. "I got up to use the bathroom. When I returned, there's Jeff, one eye and no depth perception, trying to pour my glass of wine into his.  I confronted him," says Cardais. "Jeff said, 'One requires more wine.' "

White loved food. Every Friday night, after finishing the day's work at the Post, he would walk into the newsroom and inquire: "Where are we eating tonight?" Aside from his conservative streak with white foods, he was a daring eater. If chicken guts, snake skin or goat ragout were on the menu, White ordered them. He declared, "The best thing about traveling is, hands down, the food one gets to try."

Instead of a traditional burial, wife Nicole White will put his ashes into seven containers and spread them in the different places that meant something special to him or to the two of them together. The first will be Scituate, a seaside town in Massachusetts, because he loved the ocean. "It was one of his favorite places on the East Coast and where he brought me the first time I was visiting the U.S.," says Nicole. "Also, it's where there's one of his favorite restaurants where they make - or so he claimed - the best clam chowder."

Prague is one of the seven places his ashes are to be scattered.

In addition to his wife, White is survived by his parents James and Dolores White, his brothers, Gregory, Paul and Michael, and five nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations can be made in White's name to Dr. Sato's Eye Melanoma Research Fund. Mail donations to Melissa Pizarro, associate director of development, Kimmel Cancer Center, 233 South 10th St., Suite 908, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.

Iva Skochová can be reached at
news@praguepost.com