Lebrecht Wilhelm Fifi Hesse

Lebrecht Wilhelm Fifi Hesse (16 November 1934 – 18 October 2000) was a Ghanaian public servant and the first black African Rhodes Scholar. He served as Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation on two occasions. He was also a member of the Public Services Commission of Ghana.

Early life and education

A member of the notable Hesse family, L. W. Fifi Hesse was born on Friday 16 November 1934. He had his early education at Osu Presbyterian Boarding School, Salem and his secondary education at the Accra Academy. In 1952, while at the Accra Academy, he won a national essay competition that was organised by the then Gold Coast authorities to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Two years later, he won a competition that was organised by the New York Herald Tribune to select students for the newspaper's annual World Youth Forum which was held in New York City. Through this experience, he was able to obtain visits to Israel, Egypt and India. At the time, the university was a constituent college of the University of London external system. He completed in 1960 with his bachelor's degree in history, awarded by the University of London. That same year, he applied for postgraduate study and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, becoming the first black African and the first Ghanaian for that matter to achieve this feat. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oriel College, Oxford from 1960 to 1962. and later became an editorial secretary. In 1972, he was appointed director-general of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. He served in that capacity until 1975 when he was appointed Principal Assistant Secretary for the Ministry of Education and Culture as an administrator in the Ghana Civil Service. Fifi Hesse was moved to be a member of the Administrative Corps of the Osu Castle which was the Ghanaian seat of government. He served as the Principal Secretary of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Coordinating Secretary's Office and in 1984 he was posted back to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation again as director-general until 1988. In 1988, he was appointed member of the Public Services Commission, he served in that capacity until his death in 2000.

Death and funeral He died of cancer on 18 October 2000.