Warren S Feek

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Warren, a visionary who has left an indelible mark on the world of development communication. His passion, dedication, and foresight were evident from the very beginning, particularly in his creation of the Communication Initiative. I had the privilege of working alongside him during the early stages, and together we contributed to the development of what would become a rich archive of information on communication for behavior change—a resource that remains just as relevant today as it was nearly 30 years ago.

Warren's work was not just about creating a website or an archive—it was about making a lasting impact on how communication could drive positive change. His legacy will live on in the many lives and communities he touched through his work.

As we mourn his passing, my thoughts and deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues. Warren will be missed, but his vision will continue to inspire and guide us for years to come. May he rest in peace.

I have just learnt of Warren's passing away now on LinkedIn when someone I know commented. Very, very sad to learn about his death. I have been a partaker of Drum Beat and later Communication Initiative for the longest time since my full time journalism days 25 plus years ago to date. Thank you for your service to humanity, to all of us who benefitted immensely from your initiative. My condolences to your family. Rest Well Warren.

I became more interested in developmental work through the Drum Beat, because i had opportunity to read and learn from the platform. He would be missed. I pray we keep his memories by playing our part in contributions to developmental project across the globe

I only learned of Warren's passing this week, and was very sorry to hear it. His work with the Communication Initiative and the Drum Beat was my first introduction to the media development sector, many years ago. I am so grateful to him for opening my eyes to the mediadev world, which I have been involved in now for more than 10 years.

Sending my deepest condolences for the loss of Warren - he is remembered with honor for his courageous, innovative and important contributions to global communication for change and development. Warren's work, the CI and The Drum Beat were grass roots movements... extended to global scale... and were dynamic, inclusive and accessible resources for all. Warren provided a platform for exchange, collaboration, learning and moving forward together. What an achievement and what a journey. We will miss you, and CI. Still difficult to imagine. Thank you so much for all you have done, for so many, including me. Respectfully, Shalini Rozario

To my dear friend Victoria,
I only knew Warren through your kind and loving stories of him. He was such a wonderful human being who made a huge difference in so many people's lives. My heart is saddened by your loss of such a loving person, husband, and friend who walked so many years with you. I know he was also a devoted & caring father to your 3 grown children.
All my love and deep condolences to you and your family for your loss.

It was with great sadness that I learned recently of Warren’s passing.

For several years I was fortunate to work with Warren and Victoria at CI, in particular in the area of polio communication.
Warren’s voice in the field of communication and social change was incisive and eloquent. Equally compelling was his ability to listen, to hear, and to be open to possibilities. I learned so much from him during that relatively brief time, and know that the extensive body of work he leaves behind will continue to be an invaluable resource.

My deepest sympathy to you Victoria, and to your children Kaitlin, Braden and Logan. I am so sorry for your loss.

Shan Thomas

We all have a biological family and some of us have chosen family. Victoria became my chosen family back when I was 12. It wasn’t long before Warren joined her world. The match between these two remarkable, kind-hearted, and generous individuals was lovely to see, and just like that, Warren became part of my chosen family too—whether he realized it or not.

I can hear him now, with his Kiwi accent and a little smile saying: "What have I gotten myself into?” But he embraced our family gracefully, and our lives became entwined between work, friendship, and family.

We began raising our young families together and I started working for Warren and Victoria as he was manifesting “The CI”. I was pregnant at the time when Warren asked me if I could put some names and addresses into his address book on his computer. He said "I have no idea if this will work but let's give it a shot. Well Warren, I think we can say it worked!!! Warren was always in line with ever changing technology and with that, his vision of The CI continued to grow into a massive global network. Warren and Victoria put their heart and soul into The CI, and as the business grew it never changed how they ran The CI - always with integrity, respect and always so supportive and gracious... you could not ask for better employers or better friends. We worked together for 27 years - a true testament to the truly genuine human being Warren was.

For someone so in tune, so engaged and so aware on the work front - I would get a laugh when Warren had no idea what was going on the home front. I'd say: I'll see you at Thanksgiving dinner - his response would be: Oh? We are having a dinner? Is that tonight? Meanwhile, Victoria has a lavish table set for 15 and he'd walked by it 4 times already. If asked what time the kids' soccer game starts? or Shouldn't you be picking up kids right now?... He was lovingly clueless!

When my kids were young, we spent a lot of time at The Martin-Feek residence, this meant 5 kids were running around, and this somehow never seemed to rattle Warren! As with his own, he was always present for my kids - he was always there ready to play, listen, or read a bedtime story. Now they're grown, Warren continued to check in on how they were getting on and support them in their paths.

Reflecting on the early days, pre-CI - Kaitlin was just 6 months old and Warren and Victoria were moving to NY. I joined them there to help care for Kaitlin while Warren and Victoria settled into their new home in Brooklyn Heights. I have fond memories of my time there. Warren took me out for my first drink, well...legal drink... to a pub in NYC on my 21st Birthday - I am pretty sure there was more than one drink to be had that night and scotch was involved! Warren also took me to my first ball game, Jays vs Yankee's, at Yankee Stadium!! For this small-town kid - it was so surreal, and I was in awe of this experience as the two of us sat eating shitty food, drinking watered-down beer while soaking in the atmosphere. Those moments remain etched in my heart, symbols of his generosity and willingness to share life’s simple joys.

Warren had a way with words that drew you in, and made you feel seen and heard, even if you didn’t always know what he was talking about! He was a listener, a thinker, and a friend in the truest sense.

For 27 years, our daily Skype check-ins were constant. Seeing that green light on meant Warren was just a click away. I will miss those moments deeply.

I have so much admiration for and appreciation for the genuine human Warren was and feel privileged to have shared so many years of friendship and working alongside him.

Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden and Logan - Thank you for sharing your dad/ your husband with my family and me – He was truly a gem, and he will live on in our hearts and memories.

I forgot to mention earlier that when we were in Rio for the media and children summit, Warren and I were sitting outside during a break, having a drink, and we saw a beautiful hummingbird flitting from flower to flower. Warren said: "Did you know that hummingbirds were called Flying Jewels, Joyas Voladores, by the first Europeans to arrive in the New World?" He added: "They had never seen a hummingbird because they only exist here in the Americas. 300 species."
That stayed in my mind, a wonderful gift among many from Warren.

Dear Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden, Logan – I was at the UNICEF regional office in Panama only moments before I received the sad and painful news of Warren's passing. Minutes before, I had spoken with Mark Connolly about the importance of strengthening the collaboration between UNICEF and the CI in the region. Despite the distance, Warren was always present in our conversations and plans.

On a personal level, over the years, Warren became a not only a colleague but also a friend and, on many occasions, a mentor to me in my early professional years in international development. My wife Yenis and I have reminisced fondly our interactions with Warren, including when we first met in in Athens, OH, in 1993. Warren met our oldest son Andy who was just a toddler and had time to play with him for a little while! We also remembered when Warren joined us with several friends for dinner in our house in Arlington, VA in 2004.

Whenever Warren and I coincided, which over the years were numerous, at an event or a city, we would always find time to have lunch or dinner or to get together to talk not only about work but also about the challenges of often being away from our families for work reasons.

Warren’s commitment to the communication for social and behavior change field (SBCC), social justice, and equality, his willingness to always engage in frank conversations and debates, even if it meant difficult ones, but, more importantly, his friendship and support, will always be remembered and present.

Warren also was visionary. One of the questions I was asked during my MA thesis defense was whether an online global network of C4D practitioners would be viable. That question was based on the soon launched CI.

I am grateful and feel privileged to have met Warren, and to have collaborated and worked with him on so many initiatives and projects that, no doubt, have moved the field forward and contributed to improving people’s lives in many parts of the world.

No words will fill the sense of emptiness that Warren’s departure brings to you and your children and to many friends and colleagues around the world, but I hope that the outpouring of grief and appreciation for Warren’s work will help cope with these difficult moments.

We will certainly miss Warren’s support and friendship as well as the great conversations and debates, and I also will miss our random exchanges on WhatsApp about soccer - he loved rugby but also followed and enjoyed soccer very much-, and his unique sense of humor which I gradually understood over the years.

With our regards and solidarity,

Rafael and Yenis

Una cosa es segura: extrañaremos mucho a Warren Feek. Vivimos en una época en la que la esfera pública está copada por posiciones radicalizadas, discursos de odio y noticias falsas. Necesitamos, más que nunca, personas que dediquen su vida a construir puentes y alianzas. Desde que conocí a Warren, en la década de 1990, me impresionó la forma en que priorizaba reunir a personas con diferentes antecedentes profesionales, conocimientos y experiencias y, en esta perspectiva de cooperación global, siempre buscó mantener atención especial sobre Intercambio Sur-Sur. La obra de Warren fue decisiva para el campo de la comunicación para el desarrollo en América Latina. A cada uno de nosotros, ahora, corresponde nutrir y fortalecer este legado.

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Uma coisa é certa: Warren Feek irá fazer muita falta. Vivemos num tempo em que a esfera pública está tomada por posições radicalizadas, discursos de ódio e fake news. Necessitamos, como nunca, de gente que dedica a vida a construir pontes e alianças. Desde quando conheci Warren, nos anos 1990, me impressionou a forma como priorizava articular pessoas com trajetórias profissionais, saberes e experiências diversas – e, nessa perspectiva de cooperação global, sempre fez questão de manter um olhar atento para o intercâmbio Sul-Sul. O trabalho de Warren foi decisivo para o campo da comunicação para o desenvolvimento na América Latina. Cabe a cada um de nós, portanto, nutrir e fortalecer esse legado.

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One thing is certain: Warren Feek will be sorely missed. We live in a time when the public sphere is filled with radicalized positions, hate speech, and fake news. More than ever, we need people who dedicate their lives to building bridges and alliances. Ever since I met Warren in the 1990s, I was impressed by the way he prioritized bringing together people with diverse professional backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences – and, in this perspective of global cooperation, he always made a point of keeping a close eye on South-South exchange. Warren's work was decisive for the field of communication for development in Latin America. It is up to each of us, therefore, to nurture and strengthen this legacy.

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Veet Vivarta

Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden, and Logan, I’m thinking of you during this difficult time. I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn of your loss. I remember Warren as a loving father, who offered quiet strength and laughter to his family. I know he will be greatly missed, but that his impact on the world will continue.

Warren fue un buen amigo y colega mío desde mediados de la década de 1990, cuando ambos trabajábamos en la sede de UNICEF en Nueva York. Mis recuerdos más entrañables son de nosotros tomando café en la cafetería, intercambiando "historias de guerra" sobre nuestras luchas por la justicia social. Hablábamos incansablemente de los desafíos que enfrentábamos para comunicar eficazmente los derechos de los niños en un mundo que era —y sigue siendo— brutalmente hostil hacia la infancia.

Lo que más me gustaba de Warren, creo, era su mordaz sentido del humor, su mente inquieta y crítica, su impaciencia con los clichés, su insistencia en la evidencia y los datos. Cuestionaba el pensamiento convencional. Desafiaba la mentalidad de grupo institucional (groupthink). Era escéptico ante las "historias de éxito" tan promocionadas. Sentía pasión por los derechos de los niños, de las mujeres —por los derechos humanos en general. Sabía que nuestros problemas fundamentales son estructurales, sistémicos.

Warren y yo coincidíamos en que la comunicación era tanto un arte como una ciencia: yo, como redactor de discursos, enfatizaba el arte, mientras que Warren, como oficial de programas de salud, subrayaba la ciencia. Nos complementábamos; aprendí muchísimo de él en aquellos primeros años y a lo largo de los 30 años de nuestra amistad.

Warren y yo nos vimos en algunas ocasiones cuando visitaba a mis hijos en Vancouver; tomé el ferry para visitarlo en Vancouver Island, o él me visitaba en el continente. Mi difunta esposa Rachel le tomó cariño de inmediato; le dio el apodo afectuoso de "El Feekster". Me sentí muy bien recibido por su esposa, Victoria, cuando los visité. Recuerdo haber quedado muy impresionado al ver el centro de operaciones de Communication Initiative en su garaje. Con un presupuesto mínimo, como un trabajo de amor, construyeron un motor global poderoso para la creación de redes e intercambio de conocimientos en los primeros días de Internet. El modelo era profundamente participativo; incluía tanto teoría como práctica del Sur Global, así como del mundo occidental más rico.

De los recuerdos que tengo de Warren en las trincheras de la comunicación global, dos se destacan: primero, en la 4ª Cumbre Mundial de Medios para la Infancia, en Río, en 2004, Warren dejó al público boquiabierto al citar a Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela y Gandhi como modelos a seguir para nuestro trabajo en nombre de los niños del mundo. Su visión era política. Y segundo, en una de las primeras reuniones para discutir la creación de la Alianza Global para el Cambio Social y de Comportamiento, en la sede de UNICEF, Warren mostró una astucia diplomática y una obstinada negativa a aceptar un "no" como respuesta de los participantes conflictivos.

Warren dirigió la Communication Initiative con gran habilidad y visión. Insistió en contrarrestar el casi monopolio occidental sobre las tecnologías de comunicación, dando protagonismo a voces convincentes y a organizaciones innovadoras del Sur Global, especialmente de América Latina y África. Lideró la recolección y promoción de evidencia basada en datos para demostrar el impacto de los proyectos y programas de comunicación para el desarrollo. Tomó riesgos en un entorno burocrático adverso al riesgo; hacía preguntas difíciles y no tenía miedo de hablar de fracasos cuando algún enfoque o proyecto no alcanzaba los resultados esperados.

Warren fue especialmente crítico con los enfoques de comunicación que priorizan el cambio de comportamiento individual en lugar de los procesos de cambio social colectivo. Abogaba por inversiones en cambios a largo plazo, partiendo de la premisa de que las normas sociales negativas y las estructuras injustas no pueden cambiarse de la noche a la mañana. Entendía que las comunidades y los movimientos sociales son, en última instancia, el motor de la transformación social y cultural; pero nunca subestimó la importancia de los cambios de política desde arriba, exigiendo accountability a los gobiernos y proveedores de servicios.

Aunque nuestras respectivas empresas competían a veces por contratos con agencias de la ONU, Warren ponía el énfasis en la colaboración y el intercambio de información entre aliados. Todos nosotros en Rain Barrel Communication lo teníamos en alta estima. Su muerte repentina y prematura fue un shock. Lo extrañaré como a un hermano. Su trabajo y su ejemplo vivirán para siempre. -- Robert Cohen

Warren Feek was a good friend and colleague of mine starting in the mid-1990s, when we both worked at UNICEF headquarters in New York. My fondest memories are of us having coffee in the cafeteria, swapping "war stories" about our fights for social justice. We endlessly discussed the challenges we were facing to effectively communicate children's rights in a world that was – and still is – brutally unfriendly to children.

What I loved most about Warren, I think, was his mordant sense of humor, his restless, critical mind, his impatience with cliches, his insistence on evidence and data. He questioned conventional wisdom. He pushed back against institutional groupthink. He was skeptical about highly-touted "success stories". He was passionate about the rights of children, women – about human rights in general. He knew that our primary problems are structural, systemic.

Warren and I agreed that communication was both an art and a science – with me, as speechwriter, emphasizing the art and Warren, as a health program officer, stressing the science. We complemented one another; I learned so much from him in those early days, and over the 30-odd years of our friendship.

Warren and I met a few times when I'd visit my kids in Vancouver – I took the ferry to see him on Vancouver Island or he visited me on the mainland. My late wife Rachel immediately liked him; she gave him the affectionate nickname of "The Feekster". I felt very welcomed by his wife, Victoria, when I visited. I recall being very impressed to see their Communication Initiative operations center in their garage. On a shoestring budget, as a labor of love, they built a powerful global engine for networking and knowledge-sharing in the Internet's early days. The model was heavily participatory; it featured theory and practice from the Global South as well as from the richer Western world.

Among the memories I have of Warren on the front lines of global communication, two stand out: the first, at the 4th World Summit on Media for Children, in Rio, in 2004, Warren blew the audience's minds by citing Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Gandhi as role models for our work on behalf of the world's children. His was a political vision. And second, at an early meeting to discuss establishment of the Global Alliance for Social and Behaviour Change, at UNICEF headquarters, during which Warren displayed diplomatic shrewdness and a stubborn refusal to take "no" for an answer from the fractious participants.

Warren presided over the Communication Initiative with great skill and vision. He insisted on counteracting the West's near monopoly on communication technologies by centering compelling voices and innovating organizations from the Global South, especially from Latin America and Africa. He led in collecting and promoting data-based evidence to demonstrate the impact of communication for development projects and programs. He took risks in the risk-adverse environment of bureaucracy; he asked tough questions and was not afraid to speak of failure when some approach or project would fall short.

Warren was especially critical of communication approaches that prioritize individual behavior change as opposed to collective social change processes. He advocated for investments in long term change, on the premise that negative social norms and unjust structures cannot be changed overnight. He understood that communities and social movements are ultimately the motor of social and cultural transformation; but he never downplayed the importance of top-down policy change, holding governments and service providers' feet to the fire.

Although our respective companies sometimes competed for contracts with UN agencies, Warren placed the emphasis on collaboration and sharing information among allies. All of us at Rain Barrel Communication held him in high esteem. His sudden, untimely death was a shock. I will miss him like a brother. His work and his example will live on. -- Robert Cohen

Como para todos los que lo queríamos y admirábamos, la noticia de la muerte de Warren fue como un rayo en cielo despejado. La sentida nota de Victoria decía que, hasta el último momento, tuvo sus energías puestas en las demandantes tareas diarias de la Iniciativa de Comunicación.
Poco después de conocer a Warren, en Nueva York, en 1993, viajamos a Sudáfrica para sumarnos a los esfuerzos de UNICEF destinados a prevenir el VIH-Sida entre los jóvenes de aquel país. Descubrí entonces a un ser humano capaz de combinar el trabajo exigente con el buen humor y la búsqueda de respuestas novedosas para una amenaza que se multiplicaba como reguero de pólvora. Coincidimos en varios otros momentos hasta que, prematuramente, decidió dejar UNICEF porque albergaba en sí una idea que luego puso en marcha. De la nada y sin más que una voluntad inquebrantable, fue poniendo los ladrillos de un proyecto que hizo la diferencia y contribuyó grandemente, tanto a dinamizar los debates sobre la comunicación para el desarrollo, como a ofrecer herramientas de trabajo a cientos de miles de personas, comunicadores o no, que tuvieron en la Iniciativa de Comunicación una nutritiva fuente de recursos para alimentar su trabajo diario. No tenía costo alguno, simplemente llegaba con regularidad y siempre con materiales interesantes. Warren logró juntar todos los continentes durante largos años y, en el caso de América Latina, de la mano de Adelaida, hizo posible el sonido de un Son de Tambora que seguramente continuará retumbando. Al querido Warren, que se nos fue antes de tiempo, le debemos un profundo agradecimiento.

A remarkable journey with a remarkable human being - Part 2

Those of us lucky enough to work with Warren at The CI caught a glimpse of the richness of social change action and thinking from the Amazon to the Nile and from rural villages to megacities. We heard stories of CIs flagship newsletter The Drum Beat which today has a subscriber base of nearly 40,000 people being printed out and taken by boat to off the grid villages along the Amazon to share information on how others were dealing with issues from deforestation to gender violence. I recall sitting in a restaurant in Nicaragua at a meeting CI had helped convene with Warren, Sue Goldstein from Soul City in South Africa and Amy Banks from Puntos de Encuentro in Nicaragua as they discussed the beginnings of what would be a long standing partnership to share ideas, strategies, and skills to help develop educational entertainment (edutainment) and advocacy programmes across continents. These things were at the heart of why CI existed and these stories could go on and on.

Through Warren's passion for strengthening the field we worked in we were drawn into the many debates about the way forward for communication both as we found and summarised them on The CI and engaged more directly through publications of our own. Books were written on areas such as communication theory and experience in natural resource management and polio communication in India. Journal articles and special editions on communication strategies for health care and immunization were published. Roundtables, congresses and summits led to manifestos that provided guidance and underscored new directions and more importantly established new partnerships and expanded the exchange of ideas. Different parts of the communication field were provided opportunities to come together to discuss their successes and failures and to help build new and more successful approaches. Warren provided the opportunity to be part of this evolving and energetic world. Not just for those who worked for The CI but as many as wanted to join.

At the risk of being a little communication geeky this engagement followed the field's shift from the early sender/receiver diffusion of innovation models towards approaches that placed more emphasis on the social context people lived in and built their world views upon. Warren would have been appalled for anyone to say he led these changes but he was at the centre of many of the debates that had major influence from the early work on communication for social change with the Rockefeller Foundation to more recent manifestations of social and behaviour change thinking or as Warren would prefer social change and behaviour change. The debates and dialogue were as essential for Warren when he died as they were 30 years ago. He took all of us at The CI along for the ride and importantly gave us many opportunities to drive.

As a major voice in his chosen field, an innovator, a communication practitioner, a creator of networks and knowledge sharing platforms, a writer and often constructive provocateur Warren was as dynamic and constantly challenging a work colleague as you could hope to work with. I will deeply miss this in my work and the communication world he so loved and found so important will feel his loss.

To wind up and perhaps most importantly. We also shared a long standing friendship. He fell in love with a dear friend of mine. We watched our children grow up together. He and Victoria put me up in their homes in London and New York and I spent many hours at his home in Victoria. We even owned a boat together which nearly sank on his watch but that's a story for a different time! We did more than a few pub crawls in different parts of the world and spent a lot of evenings solving the world's problems or pondering the mysteries of parenthood. These things I'll miss most of all.

So long dear friend. I can only hope that all that has been lost will be tempered over time by all that was given.

A remarkable journey with a remarkable human being - Part 1

In times long past Victoria and I worked in adjoining offices at the Victoria YM/YWCA and became good friends. It was through Victoria that I first met Warren as they conducted a long distance courtship which brought Warren to our part of the world as often as he could make it. In those days Warren was working for the Commonwealth Secretariat and I was among other things, organising youth programmes around the Commonwealth Games in Victoria (the city). We got to know each other well and had many discussions about youth education and building global connection and understanding. His thinking and ideas became an integral part of the work we did then and continued to keep me on my toes for years to come.

Warren and Victoria's courtship became a life-long partnership and we saw them from time to time in London or New York over the next few years. I believe it was around 1996 or 97 that he decided to leave UNICEF to experiment with new technologies and social change through something he called The Communication Initiative.

In the spirit of the 'new' technology The CI was from its beginnings, a virtual network set up not to need a head office, strategically led by a partnership of large and small organisations from around the world, built around a model of making communication knowledge accessible to everyone, and utilising new technologies to allow people to come together around issues, approaches and in mutual support.

With this in mind he moved back to Victoria's hometown in Canada to start this brand new type of organisation. It may have been established during the time of the dot com bubble but it lasted long past many of the 'start-ups' of the day because at its core it was about people, knowledge and dialogue more than technology.

He and Victoria arrived in Canada just as I was leaving for a few years in Africa so I missed those first years of getting CI up and running but when I came back in 2000 Warren and Victoria asked if I would lend a hand. Over the next few years I became more and more drawn in by the innovation of the work, the energy Warren brought to it and how closely what he was trying to do fit with my thinking.

Not that we always agreed! But that was part of what made Warren such a force. He was always up for a debate, always listened closely and with respect and never lost sight of the principled vision he had that it was through robust dialogue that real solutions could be found. Warren's view was always that the real answers about what would work best lay with the people closest to, and most impacted by, the issues. CI never used terms like 'best practice' because that wasn't for us to decide.

What worked depended on local circumstances and realities and the best way to support people in their work was to offer them access to knowledge and a network of others trying to do similar things. By putting all of this together Warren built a platform that supported people coming together locally and virtually around the world to grapple with long standing and emerging development issues and to share skills and experiences in ways that hadn't been possible before.

The years that have since passed were eventful. CI continued to grow always focused on, in Warren's words, convening the communication and media development, social and behaviour change community in all its many manifestations and local richness. Through UN Roundtables, World Congresses, SBCC Summits and multiple regional and local events Warren was a force to be reckoned with on the issues and constantly pushing for the voices of those most affected by decisions to be at the centre of debate and dialogue. At the core of this was The CI. A growing repository of knowledge combined with an expanding and engaged network of social change practitioners, academics, policy makers and activists from around the world.

I am genuinely saddened and shocked by this news.
My first contact with Warren came about 30 years ago when I wrote to him with a widely ambitious idea. So thoughtful and impactful was his response that our friendship endured well beyond the project.
All the evidence that I need of the contribution he made, the community he built, is here on this page in the familiar names who have offered their tributes so graciously.
To his family I offer my condolences. He made a difference.
He will be missed.

Greetings to Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden, Logan and family
I know it seems feeble to start with an apology for the delay in posting this note, but initially I was out of mail contact, and upon returning to home and communications, I have drafted this many many times in my mind, but found it difficult to put it into the written form.
I have also re-read the various contributions on occasions and to the extent they have been from the contributors from the Land of the Long White Cloud, I feel I will be just repeating much of it.
Warren and I first met when we started at Victoria University of Wellington in 1972. He was one of a number from New Plymouth Boys High that I and a couple of others befriended. He was a boy from "The Naki"( Taranaki ) and I and a couple of others were from "The Mighty Bay" ( Hawkes Bay ) and from that the friendly rivalry / banter originated.
We started flatting together, as I recall, at the beginning of 1975, and the group of us - referred to by Victoria as " the boys" - with little change continued together until about 1980. In that time we all of course got to know each other very well, and in some respects, were all in our own way a little different from a political and social perspective. There was occasionally discussion, but never a terse word was exchanged, and we lived to respect the points of view held, and developed a very close and long standing friendship, and we shared an enormous amount of fun and good times together. One that I was very grateful to continue to hugely enjoy to this very sad time, and thoroughly looked forward to sharing some time with him in his always busy schedule every time he visited.
Warren's professional skills have been very well recorded already, and necessarily by someone or many other than me. Throughout his working life, he never elaborated on what he did when here. Indeed, it became a bit of a standing joke whenever we - and I mean the group that remained here in Wellington that had the great historical connection with him - met up with him socially when he visited. After he would give us his typically very small " thumbnail sketch" of what he was doing, there was the invariable question: " Yes Feekie, but what do you actually DO?".
What has been revealed in the many posts is eye-opening, and reinforces my observation of his caring, compassion and passion for what he did, and the humility that was invariably associated. He was an incredibly capable, decent, intelligent and humble guy and to get to know him was to like him, and to get to know him well was to get to love him for the quite amazing man that he was.
Remarkable too that he was the coach of the footy team. Not because he didn't have the skills or the knowledge of the game to impart - because he did, and was passionate about rugby ( you can take the boy out of The Naki, but you can't take The Naki out of the boy ) but I don't think I can recall him ever being loud or shouting, and I can only imagine the team gathered into a close huddle at half time for the team-talk trying hard to hear his pearls of wisdom, spoken softly but encouragingly.
He was in all respects a lovely man, with a great love for Victoria and family - both close and wider - and incredibly proud of his children, and despite all that he did, his family was always the principal focal point. And he did not just do a lot, but in fact an incredible amount in his lifetime. His work, his travels, his achievements, and the legacy he leaves. I know that if he was able to be asked the question about how he saw his life, he would have been absolutely entitled to say he was proud of what he had done, and achieved, but he probably would have been more focused on what was left undone.
A wonderful and genuine gentleman, husband, father, and friend. I know my grief pales in comparison to that being suffered by you, the family, but he was a much loved friend and I, and many others here shall sorely miss him. I shall look forward to sharing in his memorial service from the distance, and the group of old comrades here in Wellington shall meet, reminisce, and raise a toast to him.
With love to you all
Mike Gallagher

I did not know Warren very well. We occasionally chatted on the rugby sidelines and I followed the career of his son Logan. I always felt he was a man who strove to make the world around him a better place and reading all of these comments from his friends in different spheres of life and from around the world I only regret that I did not spend more time on the sidelines with him.
Mike Holmes

I have tried to start this note several times. Each time uncertain how to correctly express my respect, admiration and love for Warren. He entered my world as 'Victoria's other half' and grew to be a dear friend. The two of them enveloped me into their world, warmly welcoming me to share part of their journey whilst they were in London. Warren was a sage life counsel, generous of spirit, knowledge, time and care. One quick to bring a smile to those around him and a love of life that was infectious. I will remember those many days that the three of us spent putting the world to rights in two small flats in London, and then the day that Kaitlin joined them. To this day the look of unconditional love, wonderment and pride on Warren's face as he looked between Victoria and Kaitlin as he saw his daughter arrive in this world is something I will never forget and am so very grateful to have been privileged to be a part of. A wonderful, intelligent, caring, inspirational man, who will be missed by so many and I am very grateful to have known and called him a friend. My thoughts and love are with you all, Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden and Logan.

In this couple of weeks since Warren's passing, many memories have come to my mind. For example, that first meeting back in 2001, when the committed Warren spoke to us for the first time about communication for development and the need to gather Latin American thinking and experience in this field. Or a short time later, when the visionary Warren proposed us to create an Internet portal specialized in communication, a project that sounded like a chimera at that time. Since then, the generous, the demanding, the funny, the creative and the always ready to innovate and move forward Warren, never stopped pushing us and supporting us to turn wonderful projects into reality.

With Warren we created La Iniciativa de Comunicación. With Warren we understood the importance of sharing knowledge, of discussing it with colleagues from all latitudes, of learning from the expertise of others. And, believe it or not, we learned how to use email and Skype (!!!!), to communicate and work with our colleagues in Canada, the United States and South Africa when virtuality had not yet been invented. Warren, the architect, introduced us to this new way of seeing the world.

23 years later and until a few days ago, we were still talking, debating and exploring paths and ideas, which Warren was always willing to advance. I was always amazed by his courage. “It doesn't matter if it's not perfect. Could you live with that?” he would say. And with this “philosophy” we launched innovations in the portals of The Communication Initiative Networks, which then became effective support for thousands of people working in the development field.

And so we grew. From a simple review of a small project in a small portal, we built a network throughout Latin America (and the world), a large repository of knowledge and the conviction that communication makes very important contributions to social and behaviour change in our countries.

But what I remember most, even if it sounds less important, are Warren's always kind words, his jokes that sometimes took me time to understand, his sharp intelligence and respect for the positions of others. Probably tomorrow and the day before and for a long time, I will think “Let’s ask Warren for his opinion”.

Warren, the human being, the colleague, the friend, we will miss you a lot.

En este par de semanas que han transcurrido desde el fallecimiento de Warren, muchas recuerdos suyos han venido a mi mente. Por ejemplo, ese primer encuentro por allá en el 2001, cuando el Warren comprometido nos habló por primera vez de la comunicación para el desarrollo y de su deseo de recoger el pensamiento y la experiencia latinoamericana en ese campo. O poco tiempo después, cuando el Warren visionario nos propuso crear un portal de internet especializado en comunicación, un proyecto que para entonces sonaba a quimera. Desde entonces, el Warren generoso, el exigente, el gracioso, el creativo y el siempre listo a innovar y avanzar, no paró nunca de empujarnos y de apoyarnos para convertir en realidad proyectos maravillosos.

Con Warren creamos La Iniciativa de Comunicación. Con Warren entendimos la importancia de compartir el conocimiento, de discutirlo con colegas de todas las latitudes, de consultar las experiencias de otros y hasta conocimos – aunque no me lo crean - el correo electrónico y el Skype, que muy pronto se convirtieron en herramienta de todos los días para comunicarnos con nuestros colegas en Canadá, en Estados Unidos y en Suráfrica, y trabajar en equipo desde todas las latitudes, cuando la virtualidad no se había inventado. Warren el artífice, nos introdujo en esta nueva manera de ver el mundo.

23 años después y hasta hace pocos días, seguíamos conversando, debatiendo y explorando caminos e ideas, que Warren siempre estuvo dispuesto a convertir en hechos. Me sorprendió siempre, su arrojo. No importa que no esté perfecto, si está suficientemente bueno, podría haber sido el lema de Warren, el realizador. Y con esta “filosofía” lanzamos innovaciones en los portales de The Communication Initiative Networks, que luego se convirtieron en apoyo efectivo para miles de personas que trabajan en el campo del desarrollo.

Y así crecimos. De elaborar una simple reseña de un proyecto pequeño en un portal también pequeño, fuimos construyendo una red en toda Latinoamérica (y el mundo), un repositorio grande de conocimiento y la convicción de que la comunicación hace aportes muy importantes al cambio social en nuestros países.

Pero lo que más recuerdo, aunque suene menos importante, son las palabras siempre amables de Warren, sus chistes que a veces me demoraba en entender, su inteligencia aguda y el respeto por las posiciones de los demás. Seguiré sin duda, pensando con frecuencia cosas como “hay que consultar la opinión de Warren a ver qué se le ocurre”.

Warren, colega y amigo, de verdad nos haces falta.

Part 2

In the weeks before his death, Warren was working on a paper for us summarizing 27 years of experience. I thought it important to share an excerpt with you, in his own words, what I think captures Warren’s commitment to continuous learning, deep humanity and vision.

“Multiple deadlines for eradication came and went, and many despaired that eradication was an impossible task — not because it wasn’t technically possible but because of the multiple and varied political and social barriers that stood in the way of meeting the very high levels of coverage needed for eradication. And yet, despite many setbacks, the GPEI has been successful by almost every measure except the most important: eradication itself. Over time, an increasing awareness has emerged that technical and financial feasibility was only the first step and that taking the long road of learning to respond to issues such as political opposition, war and conflict, community resistance and mistrust, the challenge of reaching underserved populations invisible to health systems but not the virus, addressing misinformation and lack of capacity is what will propel the GPEI over the finish line. …what follows helps illuminate this process of long-term building on successes that fall short of the goal but still accomplish a great deal, of learning that technical, epidemiologic, responses to issues seldom work unless accompanied by closely integrated social and behavioural ones, and of sustaining commitment in the face of missed milestones and multiple setbacks and crises. It is in many ways a story of tremendous accomplishment that lays the groundwork for where the polio programme is today – fully and frustratingly aware of the proven feasibility of eradication but struggling with the social and behavioural issues that make all great human endeavours so difficult to achieve.”

Rest easy Warren, you made a difference.

I am writing with great sadness at the loss of a dear friend and colleague. I have tremendous professional admiration for Warren as a compassionate and thoughtful innovator, teacher and problem solver. His love of family, CI, rugby, energy and enthusiasm, along with wit, humor and humbleness made him a role model to many. His influence on polio eradication, immunization and disease control has been profound if not widely known.
In the early days of global polio eradication (1996 – 2006) there was an assumption by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) that caregivers would automatically accept vaccination if it was offered. Attention to the ‘people’ side of eradication was often derided and dismissed. I saw signs of this during my early visits to the field. In many places the political and cultural contexts were not factored into the planning, communities were being informed but not engaged, messaging was basic about the days of the campaigns, and people’s questions about the vaccines were unanswered letting false anti-vaccine myths and rumors take hold and spread globally. My personal training in health communication was limited and by good fortune, Elizabeth Fox (a world class communication expert then at USAID) and I had a conversation about how to get GPEI to address the glaring gaps in ‘comms’ a term intended to encompass a range of social, behavioral, cultural, gender, religious, political and other ‘softer’, non-epidemiologic aspects of eradication. Elizabeth introduced me to Warren and CI and thus was forged a 25-year partnership.
Warren’s vast knowledge of the ‘comms’ field and extensive network of experts was invaluable in helping to structure a systematic and evidence-based approach to polio communication. He linked me to many other experts. My confidence in the field grew and USAID became a strong and vocal champion for people-centered approaches and the need for reliable comms data. One of the most difficult hurdles was from within the polio comms community that resisted establishing quantifiable indicators of impact of different approaches and messages. We didn’t know what was working or if our funding was being used well. Together, we (Warren, Chris/CI and other experts) persisted until a set of comms indicators was finally agreed on in 2006 – 10 years after the launch of GPEI. This shift from solely anecdotal and qualitative measurement to the application of quantitative indicators has changed the way disease control programs operate. Comms indicators are now mainstreamed into GPEI, Ebola, COVID-19 and other disease control programs.
The innovative CI platform became USAID’s knowledge hub for polio comms and interactive communities of practice. Over time, we managed to get comms featured more prominently in technical and oversight advisory groups, external reviews, strategic planning and national action plans. Where needed, we conducted pivotal research into the root causes of distrust and decision-making (Ukraine, Nigeria).
Countless times over the years, in many cities around the world, we would meet (often over an adult beverage) to brainstorm about the current challenges facing eradication, what and how we could play a part in solving them, who else could we bring in that could help us, were there lessons from other sectors that could be adapted? These sessions were always filled with candid open discussion, sprinkled with wit and irony, frustration over reluctance of GPEI to address the obvious, and a commitment to redouble our efforts to overcome growing barriers around insecurity and setbacks. When you talked with Warren you knew he would radiate out to the rest of the network any issue that would benefit from connecting and would pass along any works of wisdom that came back.
The work was intensive, but we made a point, that our conversations ALWAYS started with an update on our family’s health and wellbeing – family first. It was a reminder of what was truly important in our lives. Warren was so proud of his kids and their accomplishments – always a supportive father and coach. Warren and Victoria extended such kindness to me and my family during our difficult times that will never be forgotten. I will miss his wise counsel, constructive banter and creativity. [End Part 1].

It was with great sadness that I absorbed the advice I received that Warren Feek had passed away.
We met many years ago in the 1970’s whilst studying at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand and became not only very good friends very quickly, but colleagues in a variety of activities and then Warren joined me with 4 other flatmates sharing a flat in Mount Victoria. Whilst completing his studies he became an employee of the YMCA.
I was studying part time and I was employed as the National Executive Officer for the NZ University Students’ Association and was elected to the National Executive of the National Youth Council of New Zealand. Shortly after Warren joined me as the YMCA representative on the National Youth Council Executive.
Around this time with the YMCA Warren worked to develop a national programme to promote youth development using mini-bikes and he encouraged me to join his organising committee. We worked together for 2 years on that project before Warren headed off to the United Kingdom where he was employed by the National Youth Bureau based in Leicester.
When I travelled to the UK in the 1980’s for work or holiday I was able to stay with Warren in Leicester and enjoyed his wonderful hospitality. Warren subsequently located himself in several countries whilst serving in organisations promoting social and behavioural change and we remained in fairly regular contact by way of email messages or details promoting some of his work initiatives,
He visited New Zealand off and on but my wife Diane and I were now living on the outskirts of Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand and we had great difficulty in managing to arrange to meet in the course of any of those visits. Three or four months ago when I was in Wellington we planned another get together but something urgent came up that forced Warren to cancel.
I offer my deepest condolences to Victoria and all the related family members wherever they may reside (some are in New Zealand). Warren was a wonderful person, full of kindness, wit and creativity.
Rest in peace Warren your contribution to the communication for development and social change will always be remembered.
Errol Millar

Wr honored Warren today with a tribute and moment of silence at the CORE Group GHPC24 conference in Nairobi- filled with SBC practitioners who knew him, the Drum Beat and CI. He will be missed by many.

The photo on this site triggers for me so much sadness and many memories. In the early eighties, I worked with Warren and Phil Hope at the National Youth Bureau (NYB) in Leicester. A short while after Warren had left the NYB, he invited Phil and I to join him in forming an organisation, which became Framework. We had an explicit value base and worked only in the public and charitable sectors. Warren's confidence, courage and belief in the importance of good management in underpinning the delivery of effective youth work made a significant difference despite, at first, being like pushing water uphill. The knowledge, skills and contacts I made through Framework were highly significant in forming the foundations for the rest of my working life. My memories of Warren as a colleague and a friend, and the impact of his creativity, skills, energy and the warmth inherent in his work, do indeed leave a lasting legacy.

I have so many fantastic memories of Warren - and over all of these years, we remained connected and his visits to Panama were wonderful - including May of this year. I never felt any distance, and in fact i knew we were also connected - regardless of the volume of emails and social media posts.

We go way back - and when i looked through the few photos - this is my favorite.

Warren's physical departure from this world is a biological ending, but his spirit, friendship, inspiration and sense of humor, live on and on among all of us.

Warren was one of the most talented people I’ve ever known. He was a highly intelligent and amazingly creative person whose progressive values and integrity underpinned everything he did. Warren invited me and Sarah Hargreaves to form Framework in 1984 as a values-based training and consultancy group working with not-for-profit and public sector organisations in the UK.

We were a close-knit team taking the risky plunge into freelance working but with his drive and energy behind us we flew and grew in size and impact. Framework as an idea and as a collective of independent consultants carries on today - 40 years later – a tribute in itself to his vision and commitment to making the world a better place.

We kept in regular contact over the years following Framework – doing occasional joint pieces of work together, and after that, during my time as an MP in the UK, he would regularly stay over in my flat in London. I have very strong memories of us discussing global politics late into the night – not least during the period of the Iraq war which was one of the more difficult conversations.

And we had a lot of fun. I remember him sitting on my sofa, laptop in front of him, eating a kebab from the local takeaway, and writing something for his work whilst watching some obscure second division rugby game happening in New Zealand on the TV. That man invented multitasking.

And on more than one occasion, at a time when I was a Minister and had my red box of government business to work through late at night, he (a Kiwi living in Canada and visiting London) would happily feel free to give me advice on various UK policy decisions I had to make. Not sure if I broke the rules but he and I approved the planning application for the 2012 Olympic Games in London!

Warren was one of my closest and oldest friends. He was an inspiration to me and now he’s gone. He touched so many lives. I miss him very much.

Sending love and condolences to Warren's family and friends from all at BBC Media Action. In our shock, we are feeling immense gratitude for Warren's life and all he did as a 'founding father' of our field. For many of us, CI was (and is) a vital gateway into the world of SBCC and the practice of the diverse organisations and people working there. Always willing to talk over ideas and share advice and challenge, Warren was an anchor and a rock for so many working in our sector. In connecting us all, and in the stance he took on social justice and shifting power in development and the SBCC community, Warren was ahead of his time. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with him and for his impact on our sector, and will feel his loss deeply. Wishing comfort to all those missing him.

It was 1998 and comminit.com had just launched. For five weeks I sat six feet from Warren in the garage office in Cordova Bay, both of us silent but for our twinned light tapping on keyboard keys as we populated website, Drum Beat newsletter, funding proposals. The team from those early days laughs about this truth: Despite sitting next to each other, Warren and I discussed strategy and content through emails. I choose to believe we weren’t just being expedient; we were being respectful of the focus we needed to accomplish all that was in front of us. Every few days one of us sent the other a joke email—something funny we saw or thought. We stopped our key tapping to listen to the other chuckle, smiling in communion. And then our tapping commenced again within a light silence as we dove back into our work side by side.

We both secretly swiped some juicy gummy fruits Victoria had stashed in the garage for the kids. I know this because Kaitlin and Braden never hung out in the office during those five weeks and yet I saw wrappers I hadn’t placed in the trash bin beside Warren’s desk. Logan was still too young for gummy fruits. I headed out in the early afternoons to a nearby Starbucks for lattes for the three of us adults, and then we would continue working, sipping, lightly tapping, silent through the afternoons into the early evenings.

In the silence of that office Warren communicated the magnificence of comminit’s perspective. Nothing we, the two of us in that office, said really mattered; what mattered was whispers on the ground in India and Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Myanmar, Ecuador and the Philippines, Colombia and Sri Lanka, Egypt and Chile, Namibia and Uzbekistan.

As Rumi says, “the quieter you become the more you are able to hear.” My life changed in the five weeks I listened alongside Warren in Cordova Bay, Victoria, Canada, and the thirteen years I worked to hear the CI network from my satellite office in Vermont. I am forever grateful to have shared silence with Warren. Yet the absence I now feel in this forever silence is heavy and heart-breaking. With appreciation and sorrow, I have no words. All is silent.

Warren was a visionary with a deep commitment to move the field of communication for development forward into and through the world of technology. It was a great privilege to work for The Communication Initiative (The CI), where I found people with the talent to take Warren’s ongoing observations about and iterations of the field to a wide audience through concrete examples, evaluations, lessons learned, policy statements, blogs, opinion pieces, and core missives like the Drum Beat. The main website, based in the geographic North, as well as parallel work from Soul Beat Africa, based in Cape Town, and La Iniciativa de Comunicación, based in Bogota, extended Warren’s vision of knowledge exchange. He recognised early in the life of the internet that it could be a vehicle for a true worldwide web, that practitioners in the field would be able to contribute from their experience, and that the global North and South could develop knowledge access equally.
For me, from reading extensive source materials and summarising them for the website, the world of development seemed on fire with possibility. In the early 2000s, the uses of mobile phones on the African continent amazed me, as early adopters invented their own e-banking systems, farmers and fisher people boosted their marketing potential and small landholders accessed extension service information for crops, and migrants to cities set up small businesses from housecleaning to transportation simply by having a phone number. During the fight against the AIDS epidemic, public health work expanded to focus on behaviour change, tailored to each ethnic and cultural situation, thanks to shared information from local providers. For example, the use of soap operas (telenovelas) for public health messaging began with HIV/AIDS prevention and was then linked through music and stars as champions to concerts, to instant messaging, to testing, to help lines. Polio work, an ongoing and effective campaign, became laser focused by micro region. Through the cataloguing of successes and lessons on The CI website, the field of development recognised the role of communication. Warren oversaw a seismic shift in communication in which every major organisation in the world of international development created its own website.
On the other side of the coin, an ominous decrease in locally sourced news and independent media began to limit information and its control to those with financial resources. As small holder news sources and small holder food sources have begun to shrink, displaced by larger and more profit-driven entities, and factionalism is rising as people choose their news silos, The CI stands as an example of the good that a non-political, not-for-profit gathering of knowledge from global sources —large and small— can do. Those of us who saw and admired the enormity and fluidity of Warren’s work will miss his inspiration.

Shocked and sad to hear about Warren's passing. The communications space has lost a legend. His contributions and connections are invaluable and so is his interest and dedication to work. May his soul rest in peace and may his family receive comfort.

So sad to hear of Warren's passing. I worked with Warren as part of the Framework consultancy back in the 1980s. A man of huge charisma, great humour and extraordinary skills in working with people. My condolences to Victoria and the family.

My sincere condolences to Warren's family and friends. Warren was one of a kind - a deep thinker, strong advocate, passionate, persistent, and always ready to dive into a debate or discussion. I met Warren in 2018 as I started working on social norms and SBCC. He startled me with his direct nature, loud voice, clear politics, and position on development, coloniality, and democratization of SBCC. He didn't hesitate to make his position known and to center individuals and organizations in the Global South. He was brave and passionate. I learned a lot through our interactions and through conversations with those who worked with him. I'm grateful to have known you Warren and to have learned from you.

For the past 25 years, Warren has been one of the pillars in our field of communication for development, participatory communication and empowerment - all with the purpose to ensure that every person has a chance to engage in claiming their/our rights! I have enjoyed every opportunity I have had to work directly with Warren, and admired and made frequent use of all that Warren created in and around the Communication Initiative: open and inclusive platforms for sharing and learning - for a better world. An extraordinary and important change-maker in that world who will be sorely missed <3 I can only begin to imagine the loss you, Warren's family, must feel. I send you love, warmth and the deep sense of humanity and respect in which all my engagements with Warren have taken place..

Sincere condolences to Warren Feek's family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues. Always was good to receive Warren's emails and updates. Really supported me and team working with Concern Worldwide, especially during our Child Survival grants and upskilling our SBC interventions. RIP Warren. (I have moved on from Concern Worldwide this summer after 35 years, now supporting some consultancies. breda.gahan@gmail.com & breda.gahan@outlook.ie )

I consider myself privileged to have worked with Warren for nearly 20 years as a member of The CI team. Even though our working relationship was primarily virtual with him being on Vancouver Island and me in Johannesburg or Cape Town and our direct interactions sometimes limited, I feel a deep sense of loss and am very saddened by this unexpected news. Twenty years is a long time and I think the fact that many of The CI team have been around for sometimes even longer is testimony to him as a person and the infectious dedication he had for his work and the field of social and behaviour change.

The time difference between us could not be more extreme so when we spoke it was often very early in the morning for him and we would always start with a bit of a catch up on personal issues - he was always interested in how my family was doing and in the latest news from South Africa. Our few face-to-face interactions were from the rare global team meetings on Vancouver Island in the early days, in Rome (at the World Congress on Communication for Development in 2006) and London, and when he visited Cape Town. I really valued these encounters and it was always inspiring to witness him discussing and advocating for SBC during meetings and in larger forums.

My heart goes out to Victoria, and his children and I hope they can take some comfort in all these amazing tributes that are testimony to the amazing individual he was and the legacy he has left behind.

Hamba kahle, dear Warren!

To Victoria, your adult children and other family members:
Victoria, it has been far too long since I reached out to you, and now I must do so during this very difficult time for you, your children, and Warren’s other close family members — but here goes:
Warren was one of the hardest working and most clever colleagues I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Whenever Warren showed up at my (former) office at the Rockefeller Foundation, many of my colleagues there would ask; “who is that guy who seems quite smart but also keeps you laughing all the time he is here?
Once, after being asked this 3 times in the same day, I started responding; “Oh he is just my brother from another mother.”
So it is with tears streaming down my face that I send my sincerest condolences to each of Warren’s true family members. Your husband, father, brother and uncle will be truly missed by many.
May Warren rest in eternal peace.
Fondly,
Denise Gray-Felder
President and CEO
Communication for Social Change Consortium

Sitting at my desk for the past 5 hours, I continue to struggle with what I might write that is worthy of Warren. I will never
forget the friendship and knowledge he shared with me and so many others as we both launched new ventures. But far more important is what I have learned from Warren about families and always finding a place in your work for those you love most.
I have no doubt that Warren is looking down lovingly at his wife, children and sisters - and rooting for them in everything they do now and will do going forward.
Rest in peace my dear friend and colleague.
Denise Gray-Felder

Warren was a cherished
friend, colleague and professional soulmate since the day we met at a UNIcEF meeting in New York City more than 35 years ago. My heart breaks for you,Victoria, and your adult children; your family always seemed to have so much love and fun that you shared with everyone who knew you.
Warren will be missed terribly.
With love and thanks for sharing your husband and father with the global communication community;
Denise Gray-Felder, APR
Founding President and CEO
Communication for Social Change Consortium

It is with immense sadness that we have learned the passing of Warren Feek. His significant contribution to high-quality, informed, transparent, accessible information will be missed. He had joined in 2023 the International Panel on Social Progress. he will be remembered in our community as a great militant of the information as a public good.

Dearest Victoria and family: I am very sad to learn of the death of your dear husband and father- who was also a longtime colleague and friend to me and so many others. Warren was extraordinarily creative, kind, thoughtful and fun.
But most of all he was devoted to each of you—his wife and children. People across the globe are grateful to him. Rest in eternal peace my friend.

Breakthrough ACTION is sending our deepest condolences

I was so saddened and shocked to hear of the untimely passing of Warren. He was a true champion of social and behavior change and a champion of people. He embraced his role in helping give voice and provide a platform to people who did not always have ready access. He constantly challenged me and pushed me toward a more inclusive way of working, and for that, I will always remember him.
Warren, you are gone but not forgotten. Your legacy will live on for generations to come. But for now, you are so sadly missed.

Our love and thoughts go out to Victoria and family . We connected through his sister Meridee. Living in New Zealand. While visiting Canada last year Warrens happiness to play tour guide for us while in Victoria BC was fabulous. Through the world we are only separated by a few degrees when you get to talk about the circles you mix in over our lives.
We will always remember fondly our connection.

We are so sorry to hear of Warren's passing. His work inspired many, many students of communication for development and social change over the years. Not just here at the University of Guelph (Canada) but in organizations around the world. Every bit of effort Warren and colleagues put into this area of work - in person, online or through building networks has benefited a vast number of practitioners and scholars.

Thank you for your life's work Warren. Our sincere condolences to your family, friends and colleagues. You will be missed!

Our heartfelt condolences to Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden and Logan at this difficult time. Very sorry to hear of Warren’s passing . I was honoured to work with Warren and Victoria and will miss the chats I had with Warren. Please take good care of yourselves.

Lynn and Alan

Warren understood the power of storytelling like nobody else. He was a champion of the world of SBCC, and he dedicated his working life to make sure that the impact that he saw around the world had a space to be raised up to the community, and beyond. Without him and the work of The Communication Initiative, much of all of our work would have gone unnoticed. It was always a joy to spend time in your company, or to hear your voice down the phone - your interest was so genuine, and you only ever wanted to hear more, and be able to support the work that was being done. Thank you Warren for giving all of us so much of your time and appreciation.
We appreciate you and everything you've done for us. My sincere condolences to Warren's family. We've lost a good one.

I am posting this message with sadness in my heart and deep sympathy for the Feek Martin family and for all those friends and colleagues whose life Warren touched. Warren has been part of my professional journey for as long as I can remember. We didn't always agree but those often passionate discussions always made me think at least twice. Warren was a force and he will be missed on so many levels and in so many ways. May he rest in peace and may his legacy live on.

It’s such a shock. Warren was a warrior for the issues he believed in, an extraordinary leader in a field that largely owes its modern identity to him. People now routinely call the field Social and Behaviour Change Communication – the focus on the Social, the S in SBCC, happened because of Warren more than anyone else I know. All the time I knew him – which was more than 30 years – he was leading, moving, shaking the existing orthodoxies. He did it when he was within UNICEF bringing together country and regional directors to really interrogate the foundations on which UNICEF did its communication work always with a laser focus on empowerment and social mobilisation. He took risks, sometimes made himself unpopular but never compromised on his foundational principles even if that meant losing funding or upsetting established orthodoxies. In creating the Communication Initiative, established in the early years of the internet, he created the leading social network on communication in development. All of this I am certain had real world impacts helping to change entire organisational cultures and strategic foundations. I had the privilege of working with him and alongside Warren over a very long period of time often supporting each other. We didn’t always agree but a field that should be far more prominent in international development priorities than it is has lost one of its pillars. And he created the broadest network anywhere of people focused on communication's role in development and social change. He was also of course wonderful company and hugely loved.

Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden and Logan it was such very sad new to hear of the passing of Warren.
I was lucky enough of had dinner with Warren at Janine’s when he was in Christchurch last year. He showed so much interest in what I had been up too. This memorial page has helped clarify exactly how amazing he was in so many areas. What a huge amount he has done in his life, what a huge loss to the world.
Taken from family and friends too early, RIP Warren.

To the Martin Feek Clan,

We were out of the Country when this terrible news was told to us by Braden and it brought me to my knees, we just saw him! We had a good cry for our friend, Warren.

Our family has known your family for twenty-five years and have many great memories watching Braden and our son, Wes, grow up together. Warren tried to explain his business and the time he spent travelling to us many times, we really had no idea what he actually did so we all just called him "the Spy’.

Soccer was always fun times, Braden would arrive to the park, jersey untucked, hair a mess, and shoes untied, and right behind him was Warren looking the same. We never saw Waren in a suit until Braden’s wedding last year.

Warren always amazed us with his brilliance, wit, and of course his knowledge of rugby and his love for his All Blacks.

We will miss him terribly and expect to see him walking by with his dog.

We have lost a great friend, father, husband, and a really good guy.

Rest in peace our friend.

All our love and thoughts from, Colleen and Marty Block

My heart goes out to you all at this moment of terrible loss and sorrow. Over the years Warren work with Communication Initiative touched so many lives. He collaborated with other organizations throughout the world as well and would be found at the forefront of health initiatives. We will all remember his idealism, hard work, and persistence. He accomplished so much.

Reading the many tributes from people all over the world, there will be many memories of Warren for Kaitlin, Braden and Logan to share. Besides passing on to each of them his special big 'wide smile, he must through example, instilled in them his spirit of generosity and hopes to make the world a better place

Deepest condolences to the family. So sorry to hear that Warren had passed over. I have fond memories of working with him on HIV prevention communication for young people when he was with UNICEF, and again through the Communication Initiative. A very creative and caring soul.

Such sad news. I first met Warren in 1982 when he worked with my partner, Phil at the National Youth Bureau in Leicester. His ability to engage so easily with everyone, whatever their age and background was always a delight to witness. His humour, intelligence, charm and warmth shone through and his ability to speak the universal language of sport helped too! When our son was two, Warren decided it was time to get him interested in sport and bought him an inflatable baseball bat and ball. We had to play with this many many times for a very long time.....Heartfelt condolences to Victoria, Kaitlin, Logan and Braden

Victoria, I am so sorry to hear about Warren’s passing. My heart goes out to you and your family during this difficult time. While I can’t imagine the pain you’re feeling, I hope you find comfort in the many wonderful memories you shared with him. Warren’s kindness, clever wit and warmth touched so many lives. I feel fortunate to have met him and shared some laughs. He will be missed. A big virtual hug.

To you and your family, please accept our sincere condolences in these very sad days. With love,

I first met Warren in South Africa in the 1990s when he was conceptualizing the Communication Initiative. His vision expanded rapidly and the site very soon became a vital resource for collating experiences and evidence on social and behaviour change and communication for practitioners, policy-makers, funders and others. This included diverse areas of response across all global regions, including presenting an independent voice for many. The value of this resource is incalculable and represents an enormous contribution to the field. His legacy continues. My sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

My sincere condolences to Warren's family and the whole CI team. Like so many of our colleagues in the social and behavior change field, I was shocked and heartbroken to hear the news. I started working with Warren in the mid-90s under the Population and Communication Services and Health Communication Partnership projects at CCP. In those days, websites were gaining popularity, and we envisioned a way for visitors to provide feedback on resources submitted to the CI. The work that Warren started and CI so ably carries on, will continue to benefit many for years to come. His mark on the SBC field is indelible. Rest in peace, Warren.

Such a shock to hear this sad news. My sincere condolences to Warren’s family. We shared many paths and platforms in the SBC community over decades and it is hard to imagine the community without him. Warren was committed to change on many levels and had a unique perspective and voice that will truly be missed. For those still fighting the good fight, perhaps the best way to honor his memory will be to ask “what would Warren say…” if he were here. As a happy retiree, I will simply remember the good times shared in our common goal to elevate the field of SBC. Rest in peace.

There are countless heavy hearts around the world trying to process this sad news. I met Warren and Victoria when our children were in the Cordova Bay Preschool with Lyn Brown. It didn’t take long to realize that these people were movers and shakers in our community and far beyond. Victoria was instrumental in the fight to keep the Victoria General Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit for Children open and Warren was drumming inspiration to global communities with the CI. I had a glimpse into their loving family life over many cups of tea in the kitchen as we became friends, and worked on the preschool executive together. I was honoured to work in their home office with Warren for a time and was so impressed with the important work Warren was doing. We had some good chats and I felt so lucky to be in the company of such a unique and fascinating individual. I also had the pleasure of tutoring Braden for ten years. I thoroughly enjoyed the banter and laughs with Braden and the rest of the family. So many fond memories. My heart goes out to all of you. Your love for each other will carry you forward. Journey onward Warren…

We are sad and very impacted by the news of the premature loss of Warren Feek. An inventive, dedicated and energetic professional who leaves so soon. There were so many contributions he brought to colleagues in Brazil, at Midiativa and Latin America through Citurna/ Imaginario and Communication Initiative Latin America, in Spanish.
He was a great supporter of our fight for Quality TV for children in Latin countries and moved and influenced many people on this topic. The sound of the drum plays loudly and shouts Warren's name with our sincere thanks for a life dedicated to communication, children, young people and human rights. Our condolences to the family and all journalists and communicators who will certainly carry on his thoughts Midiativa , Brazilian Center on Media for Children and Adolescents.

Our deepest condolences to Warren's family. Warren was an exceptional advocate for social and behavior change, especially social change. He was a fierce champion for country voices and while he recognized the complexity of donors, he always challenged us to do better without ever being personal about it. His perspective and deep commitment will be missed.

~ USAID/Global Health Bureau's, SBC Advisors

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Braden for about as long as I can remember dating back to our days together at Cordova Bay Elementary. From there our friendship grew until we were together almost every weekend at the family’s home in Cordova Bay. These memories made with the entire family will last with me forever. During those times, you couldn’t help but feel the love every member of the family had for one another, the light hearted nature, the loyalty and pride they had in one another.

In 2010 I had the honour of joining the family on their annual (at the time) vacation to New York and Vermont. Warren and Victoria couldn’t have made me feel more like part of the family throughout this trip and beyond. They could not have done more to make me feel comfortable and show me different things they had seen several times from historic monuments to the home they had in Brooklyn.

From the times Warren would wake Braden and I up at 6am to chant “LC LCF LCFC FC” when Leicester would draw Leeds 1-1 at Elland Road, to “reminding” me that the All Blacks and Irish rugby team played that evening, despite all of us knowing the inevitable outcome at the time, to bringing me home soccer jerseys of players I idolized from the countries he would be in. Just these select few moments amongst a plethora to choose from showed his selfless nature and the way he went above and beyond to put a smile on everybody’s face.

To Victoria, Kaitlin, Braden, Logan and extended family I am so sorry for your loss. My family and I send our deepest condolences. Warren was a tremendous man and if I can say I was half the man he was then I am doing something right. Love you all lots.

The world is much poorer place this week, we are finding it difficult to process the news of Warren’s untimely passing. For Victoria, Braden, Logan and Kaitlin I’m sure the grief is unbearable. We sought his company in social settings, his counsel in rugby matters and was grateful for both but we could never thank him enough for the one thing we treasured most of all – his friendship. He was always on hand when we were in need and I don’t think he realised how much we appreciated that.
We discussed everything from sport to the cost of living and laughed about it all. Standing against the railings around the pitch at UVIC with his friends cheering and dissecting the games is a memory we will always have. Thank you, Warren, a great life ended too soon but never ever forgotten. Rest in Eternal Peace my friend.

It has been a sad news with estonishment to hear about the pass away of Warren FEEK.
A smart person, precusrsor in his domain: starting a communication plateform to enhance and share insights from ground to practicioners and institutions.
I was granted to be part of his journey at it begining, when it was only 3 persons working for.
I remember when under the invite of Rockfeller Foundation, I met Warren in South Africa at the end of years 90. He has been my savior from the biting cold of Cape Town, borrowing me his jacket as I was exposed, simply dressed not for the austral autaum.
Few years later, I was among those first pioners of the Polio C4D team to contribute and share information about our work with communities. He always had been interested and orienting my writings in English, for better expression. .
For me, I am losing a model to whom I had a deep respect and admiration. For his personnality and for his wonderful work.

So sad to hear that Warren Feek has passed on. My first virtual engagement with him was in 2018 when I shared alot of insights at the Communication Initiative Network on ASRH SBC initiatives.

Rest Well Warren. You were a Warrior !

_____
Alex

My heartfelt condolences, Victoria, Kaitlin, Logan, and Braden. Though I never had the grateful pleasure of getting to meet Warren (I truly wish I had), the words written here, and all the stories I’ve gotten from Victoria, the world has truly lost a beautiful soul. May the love and memories you all have made and shared together, carry you through.

Warren was passionate about elevating community voices, SBC as a science, and connecting people. He will be well missed in the SBC Community. The CI Platform and network will always be his legacy and how it connected many around the world. We worked together with UNICEF on the SBC Alliance, the SBCC Summit (always fiery/passionate conversations), and much more throughout the years, including how to communicate messaging around Polio Eradication. Many condolences to his family, as he spoke of you often. May he rest in peace.

Lisa Hilmi/CORE Group

I’ve had a great friendship with Braden for many years, and as a result, have known Warren for nearly as long. He was always friendly, funny, intelligent, profound and welcoming in his disposition. I have many fond memories of Warren, but amongst my favourite was the way he beamed with pride at Braden’s wedding. His razor-sharp comedic wit was on full display during the reception, as he laughed and soaked in the moment with friends and family.

However, what I will remember most was the example he set as a father. He cared for his family with a duality of strength and love that was truly inspirational, and was the type of man all of us younger guys could look up to.

My deepest condolences to Braden, Victoria, Logan and Kaitlin. I’m so sorry for your loss.

It was a gift to have met and walked a little way in this world having known Warren — I have loved reading these tributes and how everyone recalls those essentials he had - the strength, open fairness, humour and intelligence Warren brought to everything he did and gave to all who were lucky enough to know him.
Our heartfelt condolences to Victoria, Braden, Kaitlin and Logan and all - you carry him with you always. Rest in strength and peace, it seems a less brave world without you. ❤️
Eve and Keith

I was so sad to learn of Warren’s death. My deepest condolences to his family for his sudden and unexpected passing. What a great loss to our global SBC community. He was, as many have reflected, a true pioneer and ahead of his time on issues like locally-led development, social change and how communication, when done well, plays a vital role. As a fellow antipodean, I always enjoyed his perspective and complete lack of bullshit. You will be missed by many Warren. Rest in peace.

Very sad news, that reached me over the weekend. When death comes unexpectedly, as in his case, it is so hard to digest and reminds the living of how precarious our lives are, around any age.

Warren was one of a kind, innovative for his time, incredibly passionate and at times, similarly opinionated. He never hid from any disagreements, and what you saw was what you got. I often appreciated that and also that he provided a platform for what we now call "local voices" for all kinds of SBC implementers, very early on. Many smaller but no less important organizations used the platform he built on the Communication Initiative, and he made sure that they were being heard. The last collaboration I had with Warren was on the Interim Steering Committee for the SBCC Summit, where we organized key-note speakers for several panels. We talked with the organizers of social movements in Sudan, with indigenous network leaders and many others he and I were interested in. I will miss him as one of the strong and steady advocates for social change!

I came across the Communication Initiative (CI) in 2005 while writing the first edition of my book on health communication. It quickly became a go-to resource for my teaching, field work, and research. I admired Warren, and over the years, had several opportunities to see him at global meetings both in the U.S. and Europe. He was a visionary and greatly contributed to the fields of social and behavior change (SBC)/social and behavior change communication (SBCC). His work and legacy will live on.

Rest in peace, Warren.

With gratitude for your many contributions toward a better world,

May your soul rest in eternal peace.may Almighty God rest your soul.

In the early days of my SBC career, the Drum Beat publications and the CI platform have been my go-to resource. It was/is an all-encompassing platform in topics, media, era, what not, which simply makes you fall in love with the field of community engagement and SBC. The CI platform carried the name of Feek for decades, being a testament of how much of himself he has poured into the development and recognition of the field. I recall when we were hosting the inaugural SBCC Summit in Addis in 2016, Feek, as one of the big names in the field, was set to give the closing remark. I recall some exclaimed if the name Waren Feek indeed represented a ‘real person’ and not just another name of Drumbeat! Indeed, we had the privilege of meeting ‘the person’ that week witnessing the labor of his passion.
Rest in Peace, Feek. More strength and peace to his family in this difficult time.

Just three days before his passing Warren WhatsApped me while I was in Islamabad with Chris Morry conducting SBC assessment in Pakistan Polio Programme. He was checking in on how things were going and offering his support as always. I only got to know Warren quite recently in 2019 when UNICEF HQ Polio team struck a contract with The CI to support our SBC work both in endemic and outbreak countries. Since then we continued to renew the contract and over the past 5 years I have learned about the enormous experience and knowledge Warren had in C4D/SBC across various sectors that served our efforts in polio to have sharper and smarter SBC strategies to effect social and behavior change. Warren's leadership with his insights and collaborative approach to our work has made a big difference in our efforts to eradicate polio.

I will miss your guidance, biweekly calls, occasional drinks together, and our friendship that developed in the course of our work together.

Your legacy will live on!

Tommi Laulajainen

I was deeply saddened and shocked to hear of Warren's passing. It's hard to believe. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interact with Warren at the various SBCC summits. While our interaction was limited, I found his insights invaluable.
I particularly remember one conversation where I shared a field experience involving a mid-level manager's confusion about the communication pathway from IEC to BCC to SBCC and inquired about future communication models. When I sought Warren's perspective, he thoughtfully responded: 'Rina, we need a deep dive into this.' Our conversation will remain incomplete.
You will be greatly missed Warren!
Peace
Rina Dey