Hans Hanoomansingh dies at 84

Vet­er­an broad­cast­er and cul­tur­al ad­vo­cate Hans Hanoomans­ingh has died. His pass­ing was con­firmed by his broth­er, Gideon Hanoomans­ingh, who said fu­ner­al arrange­ments are be­ing fi­nalised.

“In re­sponse to tremen­dous out­pour­ing via so­cial me­dia and phone calls, I con­firm with great sad­ness, the pass­ing of my dear broth­er Hans, a true pa­tri­ot of T&T whose con­tri­bu­tion to na­tion build­ing was self­less and ex­em­plary,” Gideon said. “Hans lived a life of prin­ci­ple, pur­pose, and qui­et strength. He gave every­thing to this coun­try—not for recog­ni­tion, but be­cause he be­lieved deeply in ser­vice. He was my broth­er, but he al­so be­longed to the na­tion.”

Trib­utes poured in across so­cial me­dia, re­mem­ber­ing Hanoomans­ingh as a pi­o­neer­ing jour­nal­ist, for­mer MP, and key fig­ure in pro­mot­ing In­do-Trinida­di­an cul­ture.

For­mer Min­is­ter De­vant Ma­haraj de­scribed him as “a jour­nal­ist, broad­cast­er, cul­tur­al icon, and pa­tri­ot whose voice helped shape the con­science of Trinidad and To­ba­go.” He cred­it­ed Hanoomans­ingh’s lead­er­ship at Ra­dio Trinidad and NBS for bring­ing in­tegri­ty and depth to na­tion­al dis­course, and high­light­ed his life­long ef­forts to up­lift In­di­an her­itage through me­dia.

Long­time friend and fel­low broad­cast­er Jai Paras­ram said Trinidad and To­ba­go is poor­er for the loss. Paras­ram re­called Hanoomans­ingh as both teacher and col­league, deeply in­volved in the de­vel­op­ment of Di­vali Na­gar and the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture. “At our last meet­ing in May, we dis­cussed a new cul­tur­al project he was work­ing on. We didn't say good­bye,” he said.

Min­is­ter of Cul­ture Michelle Ben­jamin called him “a gi­ant of broad­cast­ing, a cul­tur­al cham­pi­on, and a true pa­tri­ot,” and praised his work in mak­ing In­do-Trinida­di­an her­itage part of the na­tion­al nar­ra­tive. She ex­tend­ed con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly and the me­dia fra­ter­ni­ty.

Hanoomans­ingh was 84.