Presenter Derek Davis dies, aged 67

Veteran broadcaster Derek Davis, who worked for both RTÉ and BBC Northern Ireland, has died aged 67.

Mr Davis had suffered ill health in recent years and had spoken in interviews about his battle with weight.

Last year he underwent gastric surgery after becoming a grandfather for the first time and lost five stone.

His death was announced by his former employer RTÉ this afternoon.

He presented and contributed to several light entertainment and current affairs shows at the station, including the marine programme Out of the Blue and A Question of Food.

He is survived by his wife and three sons.

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In an interview with IrishExaminer.com in December last year, Mr Davis spoke of his religious beliefs.

"I am cheerfully agnostic,” he said. “I have no idea if there is an afterlife."

He went on to reveal his one greatest lesson from life: "When things go wrong, don’t lie down and roll over."

The married father of three, originally from Co Down, became a household name for his co-anchoring RTÉ’s popular afternoon slot Live at Three alongside Thelma Mansfield during the 1990s,

He also presented Search for a Star with long-time colleague Mansfield.

But he was also known for his work as a journalist, his passion for food, sailing and angling, and his two stints presenting The Rose of Tralee.

“He’s had health issues in recent years, he suffered from diabetes and so on,” said Saturday Night Show producer and long-time friend Larry Masterson.

“He did the Marian Finucane Show on Sunday and I gather that in early in the afternoon, he didn’t feel too well and the result was he suffered a stroke and was brought into Vincent’s [Hospital] and sadly passed away this morning.”

Born in Holywood and raised in Bangor, Mr Davis went to boarding school in Co Antrim before studying law at Queen’s University Belfast.

Before moving to RTÉ, he worked with American network ABC and BBC Northern Ireland.

In a newspaper interview, he once put his start in broadcasting down to a row with a BBC producer at the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast.

The producer was so impressed with his debating skills that he asked the young undergraduate to contribute to a programme.

He went on to be trained as a BBC reporter.

Of his decision to later leave the North for the Republic, he said: “I left the North because I was afraid of getting shot.

“I was scared stiff of the work I was doing as a reporter.”