Pat Mathura, 84, dies

After ailing at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, veteran broadcaster Pat Mathura died yesterday at about 1 pm. He was 84.

Religious and cultural groups paid tribute to Mathura, who worked at Radio Trinidad and produced the ground-breaking Indian Variety programme for television.

June Gonsalves, former programme director at Radio Trinidad, was among those who paid tribute to Mathura yesterday.

“He was a very likeable person who did his best in whatever he tried to do. He was a gentleman and a good family man,” said Gonsalves.

Mathura started in 1947 at Radio Trinidad, where he worked for 47 years as an announcer, producing programmes with special emphasis on Indian art, culture and religion.

In April 1994, he moved 103 FM, the first radio station dedicated to Indian programming. He became the youngest mayor of Port-of-Spain in 1955 and received the Hummingbird Gold Medal in 1995.

In statements yesterday, the National Council for Indian Culture (NCIC) and the Hindi Nidhi hailed Mathura’s contribution to culture and politics. NCIC’s president Deokinanan Sharma said Mathura was “a true example of a national hero as he found success as a culturalist and as a politician.”
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Indian icon Surujpat ‘Uncle Pat’ Mathura dies at 84
“He was the original communication from the East Indian community to the wider section. He was the first to present Indian culture on the airwaves. Other than being a cultural person he was a civil minded man who became the youngest Mayor of Port of Spain. He kept a common touch and the nation will morn his loss,” Betaudier said.”
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