A former Daily Nation journalist and one-time managing editor Chege Mbitiru has died at the age of 77.
According to several international media outlets, Mbitiru, passed on after suffering from cardiac arrest.
Washington Post, on Monday night, May 4, was among the first outlets to report that the veteran journalist had passed away.
KCTV News added that Mbitiru also worked as an East Africa correspondent at The Associated Press from 1985 until 2001.
"Chege was a good friend and colleague who, with a wry sense of humour, taught the rest of us about Africa. We worked closely together during the intervention in Somalia and the genocide in Rwanda," Terry Leonard, his former colleague at AP mourned.
Apart from the Rwandan genocide, the celebrated journalist also covered the 1998 US Embassy bombing in Kenya.
"Some of the best books on my Africa bookshelf were recommended by him," Ricardo Mazalan, one of his former colleagues in East Africa recalled.
Mbitiru also worked at the Kenya News Agency (KNA).
He undertook his studies in the US at Ohio Univerity, where he graduated, after completing secondary education in Kenya.
The deceased leaves behind a widow and two sons.
