CHENNAI: The Madras Reporters Guild on Sunday condoled the death of veteran journalist Sam Rajappa. He passed away on Sunday at the age of 82 at his son's residence in Canada. Rajappa is survived by his two sons Sanjeev and Manoj while his wife Grace predeceased him, mentioned the Guild statement.
Rajappa hailed from Marthandam in Kanyakumari district and was associated with The Statesman in various capacities from 1962. He was jointly awarded the prestigious Raja Ram Mohun Roy award of the Press Council of India for his contribution to journalism in November 2017, said the statement.
He was for many years the head of The Statesman's bureau in South India and was the founder-director of the Statesman Print Journalism School in Kolkata. He also worked with Free Press Journal, India Today and AP Times (which he edited) in Andhra Pradesh and was the BBC's correspondent in southern India.
He also had a stint with Deccan Chronicle and worked as consultant editor with Mathrubhumi. The statement said Sam rose to fame during his stint in Kerala when he covered the controversial death of an engineering student P Rajan during the Emergency.