mv kamath
Veteran Journalist MV KamathTwitter/Nakul Shenoy

Veteran journalist and Honorary Director of Manipal School of Communication (MSC) MV Kamath died early on Thursday morning in Manipal, Karnataka.

Kamath, 93, was not keeping well for the past few days as a result of which he had to be admitted to the hospital, where he took his last breath around 6:30am.

"He had been ailing for sometime due to old-age related problems and had been admitted to a hospital here...According to his last wishes...Not to keep his body for long, we shall perform the funeral rites today (Thursday) itself," his nephew Jairam Kamath told IANS.

A brief journey into his life

Born in 1921 in Udupi, Kamath started his career in Chemistry in 1941, until he switched to journalism in 1946. For eight years he dedicated himself to this field and became the special advisor and editor of the Free Press Journal.

Once chairman of public broadcaster Prasar Bharathi, Kamath had produced notable works including articles and several books. His books include biographies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "Narendra Modi – The Architect of a Modern State," co-written with Kalindi Randeri, and of Mahatma Gandhi, "Gandhi – A Spiritual Journey."

Some of his notable journalistic works include reports on Sheikh Abdullah's arrest in Srinagar and Nathuram Godse's trial for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Climbing ahead in his journalism career, he became the editor of The Sunday Times (India) and later he worked as Washington correspondent for The Times of India, where he excelled and came to be known as a notable journalist globally.

Ending his term at TOI in 1978, he returned to Mumbai and joined Illustrated Weekly, as its editor and remained there until he retired in 1981 and shifted to Manipal where he spent rest of his life as the director of MSC.