Veteran Guyanese journalist dies suddenly

Last Updated on Saturday, 21 November 2015, 12:39 by GxMedia

Veteran Guyanese journalist, Rashid Osman, died suddenly early Saturday morning.

He was 78 years old.

Up to the time of his passing, he had been an editor at the state-owned Guyana Chronicle where he had worked for several decades.

Osman is also best remembered for his radio programme, Midmorning Classics, which was only recently resucitated.

His wife, Yvonne, told Demerara Waves Online News that at about 6:15 AM she heard a heavy breathing and moments later he passed away. She described him as a “loving.”

“..a loving husband. He didn’t prepare my breakfast this morning. Normally, he would prepare my breakfast every morning,”  she told Demerara Waves Online News.  Mrs. Osman said her husband did not have a heart condition.

He worked up to Friday night at the National Cultural Centre.

Osman was at one time an editor at the now defunct Guyana Broadcasting Corporation and at a newspaper in Dominica.

Osman’s longtime friend and colleague for more than 50 years, Godfrey Wray, said he learnt so much from him including the names of many classical musicians such as Tchaikovsky and Chopin. “I learnt so much from him. Only yesterday, he was so happy. He was so happy that he had gotten back his radio programme…I remember him as a quite brilliant person and it hurts me to even talk about him in the past,”  Wray told Demerara Waves Online News.

Wray described Osman as “quite brilliant person who never flaunted” the fact that he was an alumnus of Queen’s College, still widely considered Guyana’s premier secondary education institution.

Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo remarked briefly on Osman’s passing. “His death would be a loss to the profession… Raschid will be remembered as one of those older but talented journalists with specific skills as both print and radio journalism, the likes of which we don’t see emerging now.”