Roxana Dascalu - an absolute whirlwind

I met Roxana on my first visit to Romania in early 1990 and then on subsequent stints in the makeshift bureau Reuters had set up in a room at the Intercontinental Hotel. 

She was an absolute whirlwind -- a font of knowledge and insight into Romania's Ceauscescu-induced traumas and a guide to the coolest hangouts in Bucharest.

She was smart, sophisticated and sure of herself, all in impeccable English. It was crystal clear from those early post-revolutionary days that she would be of much more value to the Reuters file than as a fixer, as she went on to prove in a distinguished decade with the Baron.

Roxana reconnected with me and several other former Reuters colleagues in the final weeks of her life, insisting that we remain upbeat about her prospects, as was she. "I am the same Roxana but double in size and age," she quipped in one of her text messages. 

May she rest in peace.  ■