Former Times of India editor Fatma Zakaria dies at 85

Journalist, educationalist and former senior editor of the Times of India Fatma Zakaria died of a heart attack on Tuesday at the age of 85. She was being treated for Covid-19 at a hospital in Aurangabad.

Zakaria started her career at the Illustrated Weekly of India, writing a children’s column called Aunty Wendy. According to the Indian Express, she went on to become the assistant editor when Khushwant Singh took charge of the magazine. She joined the Times of India in 1970, where she became a senior assistant editor.

Zakaria was also a social worker, contributing extensively to the field of education. She received a Padma Shri for her work in 2006. She also headed multiple institutions in Mumbai and Aurangabad such as the Maulana Azad Educational Trust, Maulana Azad Educational Society, and Maharashtra College, among others.

“Though she caught Covid-19, she didn’t suffer. The important thing is that she wasn’t in pain,” her stepdaughter Tasneem Zakaria Mehta told the Indian Express.

Zakaria's son Fareed Zakaria, who is also a journalist, posted about his mother's death on Twitter.