G Kasturi passes away

G Kasturi, who was the longest-serving Editor of The Hindu, and had played a leading role in its expansion and modernisation, died early on Friday.

Kasturi, 87, is survived by his wife Kamala, sons K Balaji and K Venugopal and daughter Laxmi Srinath, all of whom are whole-time Directors of Kasturi and Sons limited.

The end came peacefully at 0200 hours at his home here.

Alert and active till almost the very end, he was surrounded by his loved ones. He lived to see the 134th anniversary of the paper yesterday.

Kasturi had a long association with PTI having remained as its director on the board till 1990.

Announcing his death, the paper said he had presided over and led from the front the newspaper's rapid expansion and innovative modernisation of growth on the editorial-technology-logistics front through the 1960s and 1990s.

Son of Kasturi Gopalan, who was the second of S Kasturiranga Iyenger's two sons, Kasturi was the Editor of The Hindu from September, 1965, to January, 1991, for more than 25 years.

It was the longest tenure for an Editor of the 134-year-old newspaper.

Kasturi Srinivasan, who was the Editor from 1934 to 1959, almost matched his record.

Born on December 17, 1924, Kasturi had his school and college education in Madras. After acquiring an MA degree, from Madras University creditably, he joined the organisation in 1944.

In 1959, he was designated joint Editor.