BANGKOK, April 8— Pichai Vasanasong, a respected international news analyst, TV host, writer, architect and former senator, passed away on Sunday at age of 82 due to brain hemorrhage and bloodstream infection.
Mr Pichai died of brain hemorrhage and bloodstream infections at King Mongkut Hospital late Sunday morning after being hospitalised for an extended period, according to Lalana Vasanasong, Mr Pichai’s daughter.
Mr Pichai who was born on July 2, 1929 earned Bachelor of Architecture from Chulalongkorn University.
Demonstrating talent in various fields, he worked as a chief of the arts department of the former Channel 4 television station (Bang Khun Phrom) and was one of the pioneer TV hosts for that time as well as narrating in Thai the live telecast of US astronaut Niel Armstrong’s lunar landing from the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969.
Apart from that, Mr Pichai was also a member of the Thai diplomatic team travelling to China to play ping-pong on Aug 30-Sep 7, 1972. The historic trip marked the beginning of the establishment of Thai-China diplomatic relations.
Thanks to his outstanding capabilities in analysing and hosting international news programmes over the years, he garnered several honourary awards.
