Dileep Padgaonkar – a noted journalist, renowned author and former editor of The Times of India, died on Friday. He breathed his last at a private hospital in Pune at the age of 72.
Padgaonkar was admitted to the Ruby Hospital on November 18, after a heart attack. Later, his kidneys stopped working and he suffered multiple organ failure. He was on dialysis.
Pune-born Padgaonkar completed his basic education from St Vincent High School and Fergusson College. He then went to France and studied for a doctorate at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.
He worked with the UNESCO at Bangkok in 1978, and later in Paris with its Information Section. Padgaonkar started his career as a journalist in 1968 as TOI’s Paris correspondent. In 1988, he became the newspaper’s editor.
In 2010, Padgaonkar became a part of a three-member team of interlocutors chosen by the UPA government. His responsibility was to hold talks with all sections of people in Jammu and Kashmir.
Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah called him an honest peace broker. “Dileep Padgaonkar won many friends & admirers during his many visits to J&K as an interlocutor. He was a patient listener & an honest broker,” he tweeted.
“My first editor Dileep Padgaonkar, a man of culture and intellect, someone who encouraged young talent, has passed away. RIP,” tweeted Rajdeep Sardesai, India Today TV’s Consulting Editor.
Senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan said, “Just heard that my friend and former editor, Dileep Padgaonkar, passed away in Pune. Terrible loss, feel gutted.”
