Broadcasting legend Dame Esther Rantzen told fans she would see “you on the other side” in an emotional farewell letter released after she passed away.
Dame Esther Rantzen, the Bafta-winning broadcaster and campaigner, died at the age of 86 on Wednesday, her family has said.
She wrote in her letter: “Sadly, all good things come to an end, as they say. So I particularly wanted to say goodbye and thank you so very, very much.
“Perhaps I will see you eventually, on the other side. I do hope so.”
The former TV presenter, best known as the host of shows such as That's Life!, founded charities that helped millions of children and in recent years became a prominent voice in the attempt to legalise assisted dying.
In a statement, her family paid tribute to the “most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother” who will be remembered for her “endless capacity for joy”.
“Our adored mother, Dame Esther Rantzen, died today. Her legacy of compassion and understanding will live on in her charities Childline and the Silverline, and through those of us who were lucky enough to love and be loved by her,” they said.
“We are grateful she is finally at rest with her beloved husband, Desmond Wilcox, but we will miss her immeasurably. She was our sunshine. We will always remember her endless capacity for joy, her ability to comfort every heartache, her beautiful way with words and her expert guidance in all things.”
Esther Louise Rantzen was born on 22 June 1940 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, where her father, Henry Barnato Rantzen, a BBC electrical engineer, had sent his wife Katherine to escape bombing raids on London in the Second World War.
An extroverted child, Esther and her younger sister Scilla spent their earliest years raised on rations before their father took a job with the United Nations in New York, and she went to school in Roslyn, Long Island.
Dame Esther was the face of pioneering BBC series That’s Life! from its launch in 1973 until 1994, a show famous for mixing serious and humorous items that became staple Sunday evening viewing for households across the UK.
In 1986 Dame Esther founded Childline, to take calls from children suffering problems ranging from cyberbullying to drugs and from relationships and unhappiness to eating disorders.
She was equally passionate about the loneliness and isolation facing many older people, and in 2013 founded The Silver Line, a 24-hour telephone friendship service for vulnerable older people, which she conceived of after writing about the loneliness she herself had felt mourning her husband, Desmond.
