PHOTO: Joe The at a program in America before his death
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTES- A veteran Liberian journalist and former News Editor of the erstwhile Star Radio in Monrovia, Mr. Joseph Wesseh Teh has died, due to complications from diabetes, a press release said here on Thursday, February 17, 2022.
Mr. Teh, 58, passed away this morning at the Bay State Hospital in Springfield, Western Massachusetts. Until his demise, Mr. Teh was also Chief Content Officer of LIB Variety, a blogging website he operated in collaboration with his longtime colleague, Joe Bartuah.
According to a press release issued in Boston tonight by Joe Bartuah, Mr. Teh’s journalistic journey began in early 1985 at the erstwhile New Liberian newspaper, then published by the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism.
A 37-year veteran of the Inky Fraternity, he rose through the ranks over the years, becoming Features Editor of the paper in March 1989. He held that position until the eruption of the senseless civil war in December 1989.
Due to the devastating civil strife, Mr. Teh and his family were initially displaced in Tubmanburg, Bomi County and subsequently in the Gbarma area, then known as Lower Lofa, now Gbarpolu County. Upon his return to Monrovia in late 1991 following the subsiding of the first round of the senseless war and the establishment of the Interim Government of National Unity, Mr. Teh returned to the Information Ministry and became News Editor of the Liberia News Agency (LINA), while also freelancing with the defunct Monrovia Daily News with Mr. Pete Kahler and the late J.N. Elliott as Editors.
In 1994 he switched to the private sector, becoming the first News Editor of the then newly established New Democrat newspaper, a leading media outlet established by the late veteran journalist, Mr. Tom Kamara. Messrs Teh and Kamara operated the New Democrat until 1996 when he took up a new position as News Editor of Star Radio.
Unfortunately in late 2000, the Charles Taylor regime abruptly shut down Star Radio, due to the independent reportage of the broadcasting outlet.
In May 2001, Mr. Teh immigrated to the United States at the invitation of his maternal uncle, Mr. Moses Sinue. While at Star Radio, Mr. Teh received advanced training in journalism in South Africa.
He later studied Social Work and earned his Bachelor’s degree at the Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2013. Born on September 29, 1963 onto the union of the late Reverend Jimmie Teh and Mrs. Mabel Teh in Jakarken, River Gee County, Mr. Teh was a 1984 graduate of the W.V.S. Tubman High School in Monrovia, having graduated from the Harbel Junior High School three years earlier.
Mr. Teh is survived by his lovely wife of 35-years, Mrs. Jemima D. Teh, five children, ten grandchildren, his aged mother, Mrs. Mabel Teh, his aged uncle, Mr. Moses Sinue and a host of other family members, relatives and friends.