Veteran journalist Mohamed Rachid Osman died suddenly yesterday morning at his Bent Street, Wortmanville home.
He was 78.
His wife, Yvonne Osman, told Stabroek News that he died in his bed around 6.30 am. He had no history of illness prior to his death, she confirmed.
Osman worked in both the broadcast and print media and was at one point Editor of the Guyana Chronicle. Up to the time of his death, he was serving as an Assistant Editor of the Sunday edition of Guyana Chronicle.
He was also well-known for his radio programme, ‘Mid-Morning Classics,’ which he had started in the 1970s and recently revived.
His wife noted that Osman had a passion for the arts and on Friday he even covered the launch of the National Drama Festival at the National Cultural Centre.
Yvonne, to whom he had been married for 41 years, recalled that he would continuously tell her that he planned on retiring when he reached the age of 80. She said without fail he would make breakfast for his household every day.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, in a statement on Osman’s death, recalled his stature in the field of journalism. “Osman was a towering figure in Guyanese media and in the arts,” the Prime Minister said, while adding that his loss is an enormous blow to these fraternities and to the entire Guyanese society.
“Unfailingly committed to his work and to the arts, Osman leaves a rich legacy for young journalists to emulate. His arts review was par excellence as was his work in radio,” he added.
The Prime Minister also expressed on behalf on the Cabinet and the Govern-ment of Guyana his deepest condolences to the family of Osman and his relatives and friends.
Meanwhile, Neil Marks, President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA) and a colleague of Osman at the Guyana Chronicle, described him as a brilliant journalist but an even better human being. “He had a gentle soul that endeared him to all of us at Chronicle. The Chronicle archive provides a treasure of his work, particularly his art reviews. Mr Osman was a staple on state radio and was known for Mid-Morning classics, a show he began hosting in 1975. Though he still wrote from time to time, a great deal of his time at the Chronicle was spent mentoring others, including me,” Marks said, in an invited comment.
He added that Osman was agitating for professional journalism and was keen on helping others write better. “We are all shocked by his sudden passing,” he stated.
Osman is survived by his wife, Yvonne, their daughter Ruth, and hundreds of relatives and friends whose lives he had touched in different ways.
