G Kasturi, former editor of The Hindu and former managing director of Kasturi and Sons Limited, proprietors of The Hindu Group of publications, passed away in the wee hours of Friday. He was 87.
He is survived by wife Kamala, sons K Balaji and K Venugopal, daughter Lakshmi Srinath, five granddaughters and two great-grandchildren. The cremation took place on Friday afternoon at the Krishnampet crematorium in Triplicane, Chennai.
Kasturi was editor of The Hindu from September 1965 to January 1991 — over 25 years. Born on December 17, 1924, he received his school and college education in Chennai. He joined The Hindu in 1944. In the 1950s, he was designated joint editor and eventually took over the reigns as editor in 1965. Kasturi retired in 1991, and was succeeded by N Ravi. Kasturi was associated with Press Trust of India (PTI) and Indian Newspapers Society (INS). He was the chairman on Samachar, when PTI and United News of India (UNI) came under one umbrella.
Those who condoled the demise of Kasturi include President Pranab Mukherjee, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.