After a long-term illness with dignity, Ildikó M. Tóth, a journalist and chief press officer of the University of Debrecen, died in the 49th year of her life, unideb.hu published.
Ildikó M. Tóth spent about 30 years in the media. In 1994, she started her career as a news editor and newsreader at a local station in Hajdúböszörmény, Keleti Főcsatorna Rádió.
Her school years continued in Miskolc, where she diligently edited the news on two local radio stations, and then received an independent program. During her years in Miskolc, she started television in the Miskolc District Editorial Office of the Hungarian Television, where in addition to her work as a reporter and editor, she also experienced the excitement of directing in front of the cameras of the district news. After her years in Miskolc, she continued her career in Debrecen in 2000 as the news editor and then chief news editor of Rádió 1, while working for a radio station in Nyíregyháza (Gold Fm), she was a local correspondent for Havaria Press and became the editor of the free courier newspaper.
She started working for Debrecen Television in 2002: first as a reporter, then as an editor, and later as a news director. Television viewers in Debrecen could see their reports regularly for ten years, and they could hear the most important local news from Napszemlé. She broadcast the Flower Carnival for years, but she could also be seen live during the handover of the Kölcsey Center and the city swimming pool. She has also been a regular host of city and corporate events.
After years of active radio and television, a new challenge ensued in 2013: the University of Debrecen was commissioned to organize unified communications. On her initiative, the institution set up the university Press Office, whose news reaches the audience of news portals, newspapers, radio, and television on a daily basis.
As a result of her work, the Press Office raised the profile of the University of Debrecen to a new level. With the participation of Ildikó M. Tóth, the joint efforts of the university and the local government were also highlighted in the local and national press. In 2017, the General Assembly of the City of Debrecen recognized her professional work with the Press Prize of the City of Debrecen.
Her relaxed curiosity, the pace of work, and tremendous endurance did not reveal her illness, even though she was only 19 years old when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He recovered from lymphoma due to relatively early detection and treatment. Moreover, decades later, she shared her experiences as a cured lymphoma patient and gave advice and talked to her fellow patients about the disease.
She was hospitalized in January 2022 after a viral infection, but from there she also threw himself into university communication with the same momentum as at any time in the last 9 years. With a huge desire to live, vomiting on the worsening condition, he also consulted with colleagues on a daily basis from the hospital bed, trying to support the day-to-day work of the university press office and university management.
He didn’t just feel at home in the media world. “Homo ludens” – as a playful person, she enjoyed the beauties of life: good books, exciting lectures, colorful conversations, she enjoyed traveling. Her cheerful nature, constant curiosity, inexhaustible energy, and desire to live were huge motivations for her colleagues.
The University of Debrecen considers Ildikó M. Tóth to be her own death, and her funeral will be arranged later.
debreceninap.hu
