Amaravati: Senior journalist and former president of Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) Pillamarri Gopalaswamy (86) expired at his son’s residence in the US. He has been living with his son in America for more than three decades. He had been ailing for some months.
Gopalaswamy started his career in journalism as a reporter of Indian Express at Tenali. He was also working for the Press Trust of India. He worked as president of APUWJ for two terms in 1978-80 and 1981-81. He retired from journalism in 1992. He lost his wife Radha Devi in 2010. He came to Tenali and instituted an award for best journalist of the year in her name. The award for the first year was given to Nimmaraju Chalapati Rao of Vijayawada, the second awardee was B.L. Narayana of Tenali, third time it was P. N. Chari of Nalgonda and the fourth time the award was presented to D. Somasundar of Eluru.
Journalist union leaders K. Srinivasa Reddy, Ambati Anjaneyulu, Amarnath, I.V. Subba Rao, Chandu Janardhan, Chava Ravi, Konda Rajeswara Rao, Press Club, Vijayawada, president Nimmaraju Chalapati Rao, secretary R. Vasant have expressed condolences in different statements.