Toivanen, who has at different times worked for both the BBC World Service and YLE’s Foreign Service, lived and worked most of his professional life abroad as a foreign correspondent, especially in Paris and London. He was retired (even though he still appeared in media with some regularity) and living in London on permanent basis also at the time of his death.
In Finland, Toivanen was considered a highly cultured, well-rounded gentleman-reporter persona, a true Britophile, and a self-proclaimed Eurocitizen. (He jocularly liked to call himself a “eurosaurus” after Otto von Habsburg.) He was the voice and the face Finns of many generations best associate with trustworthy news reporting and analysis from London, and he also made some well-remembered radio shows such as Iltakävelyllä Pariisissa (“On a nightly walk in Paris”).
- Toivanen’s obituary on YLE’s website, with comments from the public
- Some comments from the public about his demise on HS.fi
- Erkki Toivanen - herrasmiesjournalismin perikuva (a compilation of clips from YLE’s archives featuring Toivanen, including his personal interview in YLE Radio Suomi’s Miten minusta tuli minä [“How I became me”] series)