Jennifer Beale Parmelee ’80

Jenni died Nov. 19, 2023, in Bethesda, Md., of Parkinson’s disease. 

She was a journalist whose career led her to cover politically significant as well as heart-wrenching personal stories throughout East Africa, which she did with exceptional objectivity, thoughtfulness, and compassion.

Born Sept. 6, 1958, in New York City, Jenni graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1976. She loved her work as executive editor of the student newspaper “The Phillipian.” At Princeton, she was vice president of the freshman class, majored in Near Eastern studies, and covered Princeton sports for the Associated Press.

Following graduation, Jenni spent the next 25 years working as a journalist based in Denver, Rome, and then Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As The Washington Post’s special correspondent in Ethiopia, she covered the Ethiopian famine, the genocide in Rwanda, civil strife in Sudan, and the Ethiopian civil war that led to the independence of Eritrea. Later she established Ethiopia’s first independent, college-level program in journalism. She also met her husband, Tsegaye Hidaru.

In 2005, after directing a daily broadcast for the Voice of America’s Horn of Africa service for several years, Jenni left journalism to join the U.N.’s World Food Program as a public affairs officer. Jenni cared deeply about this Nobel Peace Prize-winning program, explaining to Princeton Alumni Weekly in January 2007 that “15 years after I first moved to Africa, I decided to ‘cross over’ from journalism to a place where at least I was not merely observing and cataloging Africa’s litany of woes — a place I felt I could take a stab at giving back.” 

Jenni is survived by Tsegaye and their daughters, Sarafina and Sophie.