TRIBUTE PAID TO ALFRED D’CRUZ,VETERAN JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR.

TRIBUTE PAID TO ALFRED D’CRUZ,VETERAN JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR.

Veteran journalist, historian and author, Alfred D'Cruz passed away on June 22,2012 , at his residence in Mumbai after a brief illness, a close associate said Friday. He was 91.D'Cruz retired as Times of India's chief sub-editor after nearly 40 years of service.He had also worked for Sunday Observer and Kuwait Times.With late Prof. Patrocino de Souza, he wrote a book 'Focus on a picturesque Goan village'.D'Cruz was known for his forte for historical research and published the Times supplement 'Metamorphosis and Makers He is believed to be the first Indian to have been employed by the editorial department of The Times of India way back in 1947. D’Cruz was 91. D’Cruz is survived by his son and three daughters, one of whom was also employed at TOI.“D’Cruz was handpicked for the job by the then British editor, Sir Francis Low. “There were no Indians as part of the editorial team at the time. My father often recalled working till 4am, struggling with the hot metal press to prepare the blocks for photographs because computers were yet to arrive on the scene,” his son Sunil said from Muscat.“In 1982, D’Cruz retired as editor of TOI‘s ‘Who’s Who’ yearbook but remained active for years after that. At the age of 69, he joined a newspaper in the Gulf and worked there until the Gulf War.”

                                                                Prof. John Kurakar