Obituary: DEREK P.  WILLIAMS (1946-2026)

By Annie van Es

Another legend of the media world has joined the FCC of the skies. Derek Williams, stalwart Correspondent Member of the FCC Hong Kong from 1972 to 1989 and the FCC Thailand from 1989 to 2017, a generous mentor to many young new colleagues, a friend to everyone and soulmate to many, passed away in his hometown in New Zealand on 22 July, 2026, just before his 80^th birthday.

Derek’s first job was with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, but he spent almost five decades of his professional life based out of Hong Kong and Bangkok, zigzagging across every country in Asia and the Middle East, covering conflicts large and small, first as a soundman, then cameraman and producer.  He was on staff for CBS News for 20 years, five years as a freelancer, and in late 1996 he birthed his own TV production company in Bangkok with three other partners, Mark Laban, Heather Kelly and David McKaige, all seasoned TV camera operators and producers. Derek finally hung up his cameras in 2017 and retired to the States where one of this sons and grandson live, and where his wife Ha’s family is.

His outstanding work, which earned several TV awards, covered numerous stories for 60 Minutes, including the 1979/80 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where he and his buddy Hugh van Es who was then working in Afghanistan for TIME magazine, were the only two who managed to sneak into Kabul, ending up under house arrest in the Holiday Inn hotel. 

Derek was also in Beijing in 1989 where he and his correspondent Richard Roth were arrested, however they and other fellow foreign arrestees were released later the same day.  Derek flew back to Hong Kong to be met by his wife Ha and Hugh and I at Kai Tak airport and we headed, of course, straight to the FCC for his staple Shepherd’s Pie and not so staple cognac to calm his nerves.

His zigzags included several returns to the Middle East after starting in 1970s Beirut which he continued to cover into the 1980s which also brought the Iran-Iraq war. He witnessed coups, uprisings, riots, border wars and natural disasters, as well as the horrendous lynchings at Thammasat University in Thailand, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, royal funerals, and so much more. It was a continuous traumatic, defining and kaleidoscopic journey through a specific history of world events.  I cannot think of one major political, civil or defining event in Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific that he didn’t cover, be it from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Brunei, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain … even Russia. On and on.

There was the occasional relief of some lighter stories such as The America’s Cup  in Fremantle, Grand Prix action in China, behind-the-scenes filming in Thailand for Hollywood movies including James Bond’s Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan and one of the films in Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo series.

After each story, Derek, his crew and other Journalist Members would inevitably adjourn to the FCC. The beer, vodka and Scotch would flow, as would the regaling of the adventures. They were not tall tales; they were real experiences recalled and shared to relieve their stress they were what made the FCC atmosphere tick.

While he couldn’t escape from these continuous traumatic and often violent experiences, Derek remained the most affable, unassuming, generous, kind-hearted, hospitable, loyal, and witty human being I was privileged to know.  He fell in love with a Vietnamese lady, Ha, whom he married in Saigon in 1975, and with typical Vietnamese hospitality, their house in Hong Kong and subsequently Bangkok became an open house.  There were always guests at their home and once in Bangkok, when Hugh and I were bunking down there on one of our frequent visits, there were three other separate visiting parties in the house, so Ha had to partition off their upstairs landing and put in tatamis to accommodate all of us.  We had to set a timetable though for use of the bathrooms.  And never a frown from Derek;  in fact, I think he thrived on it.   Being married to Ha and having lived and travelled in Asia for all those years, he had a deep understanding and respect for Asian cultures, which on occasions got him out of trouble when covering stories.

He was also not afraid to make fun of himself.  Some years back, he told a story of how someone remarked that he reminded him of a movie star, Derek volunteered “yes, a lot of people say I look like Michael Caine”, and the other person replied “No, Marty Feldman”. Marty Feldman was a British actor/comedian known for his protruding and prominently misaligned eyes!

In 2020 Derek was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and he returned to New Zealand in August 2025 to be nearer his siblings. In March 2026 he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. After five decades of energetically traversing the world, spending hundreds of thousands of  hours on the phone,  Parkinson’s suddenly depriving him of his mobility and ability to articulate was  perhaps the hardest end for him, more so than the cancer.

Derek is survived by his beloved wife Ha, sons Vu and Dzung, grandson Niko, and siblings Pip, Chrissie and Tim, who were by his side during his last days.  Ha and Vu will carry his ashes to Bangkok to be scattered into the Chao Phraya River after a Buddhist ceremony, followed by a wake at the FCC Thailand.

Not only was he a legend in his career, but I would like to quote and endorse his buddy partner Mark Laban who said of Derek:  “… the truest legend … is the one held by everyone lucky enough to call him a friend”.   

Legendary journalist and former CBS News anchor Dan Rather paid tribute to Derek in a Facebook post on the day of his passing: “I’m deeply saddened to hear of Derek Williams’s passing. He was one of the bravest and a great CBS News cameraman. The images he captured beautifully told the story of a dangerous world — from the Middle East to South Asia and beyond. He was also a great man.” 

I have the comfort of all the wonderful memories of him, and my Hugh is in every one of them, but Derek is an impossibly hard act to follow.