<p>Veteran journalist and founding editor of “Outlook” magazine Vinod Mehta, 73, passed away on Sunday after a few months of illness.<br /><br />He was suffering from severe lung infection and on life support. He died of multiple organ failure, said All India Institute of Medical Science spokesman Amit Gupta here.<br /><br />“Frank and direct in his opinions, Vinod Mehta will be remembered as a fine journalist and writer. Condolences to his family on his demise,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</p>.<p>Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 1942, Mehta was a distinguished editor who successfully launched a number of publications such as the “Sunday Observer”, “Indian Post”, “The Independent”, “The Pioneer” (Delhi edition) and, finally, “Outlook”.<br /><br />Mehta was three years old when he migrated to India along with his family after Partition. The family settled in Lucknow, where he completed his schooling and received a bachelor's degree.<br /><br />Leaving home with a BA third-class degree, he experimented with a string of jobs, including that of a factory hand in suburban Britain, before accepting an offer to edit men's magazine “Debonair” in 1974. <br /><br />Years later, he shifted to Delhi, where he launched the Delhi edition of “The Pioneer” newspaper.<br /><br />His longest stint was in “Outlook”, which he launched in 1995 and continued till a couple of years ago, when he retired as an editor of the magazine and became the editorial chairman of the Outlook group. He was also popular in television debates.<br /><br />His 2011 autobiography is titled “Lucknow Boy”. He recently published another book, “Editor Unplugged”, but could not attend its launch in December last year because of illness.<br /><br />Mehta is survived by his wife Sumita. The couple don't have any children. In “Lucknow Boy”, Mehta said he has a daughter from an affair in his younger days. He said nobody, other than his wife, knew about his daughter until he wrote about it in the memoir.<br /><br />Several political leaders, like Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani, Arun Jaitley, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, along with scores of journalists, attended his funeral.</p>.<p>Tributes poured in on social media as a large section of his friends, colleagues and readers praised him as an editor who could stand up to political pressure or threats from industrialists.</p>
<p>Veteran journalist and founding editor of “Outlook” magazine Vinod Mehta, 73, passed away on Sunday after a few months of illness.<br /><br />He was suffering from severe lung infection and on life support. He died of multiple organ failure, said All India Institute of Medical Science spokesman Amit Gupta here.<br /><br />“Frank and direct in his opinions, Vinod Mehta will be remembered as a fine journalist and writer. Condolences to his family on his demise,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</p>.<p>Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 1942, Mehta was a distinguished editor who successfully launched a number of publications such as the “Sunday Observer”, “Indian Post”, “The Independent”, “The Pioneer” (Delhi edition) and, finally, “Outlook”.<br /><br />Mehta was three years old when he migrated to India along with his family after Partition. The family settled in Lucknow, where he completed his schooling and received a bachelor's degree.<br /><br />Leaving home with a BA third-class degree, he experimented with a string of jobs, including that of a factory hand in suburban Britain, before accepting an offer to edit men's magazine “Debonair” in 1974. <br /><br />Years later, he shifted to Delhi, where he launched the Delhi edition of “The Pioneer” newspaper.<br /><br />His longest stint was in “Outlook”, which he launched in 1995 and continued till a couple of years ago, when he retired as an editor of the magazine and became the editorial chairman of the Outlook group. He was also popular in television debates.<br /><br />His 2011 autobiography is titled “Lucknow Boy”. He recently published another book, “Editor Unplugged”, but could not attend its launch in December last year because of illness.<br /><br />Mehta is survived by his wife Sumita. The couple don't have any children. In “Lucknow Boy”, Mehta said he has a daughter from an affair in his younger days. He said nobody, other than his wife, knew about his daughter until he wrote about it in the memoir.<br /><br />Several political leaders, like Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani, Arun Jaitley, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, along with scores of journalists, attended his funeral.</p>.<p>Tributes poured in on social media as a large section of his friends, colleagues and readers praised him as an editor who could stand up to political pressure or threats from industrialists.</p>
