Obituary | Former Radio Macau director Alberto Alecrim dies at 84

Alberto Alecrim (Courtesy JTM)

Former journalist and Radio Macau director Alberto Alecrim passed away yesterday morning, falling victim to a long-term illness.
At the age of 84, Alecrim was a resident of Macau for over 50 years. He was appointed as Radio Macau director in 1978. He was also a contributor to local newspaper Clarim and worked in the Government Information Bureau.
Alecrim arrived in the territory in 1965 some years after the invasion of the then Portuguese colony of Goa by the Indian army, which left him arrested in an internment camp for a while. In Macau, Alecrim continued his work as a radio broadcaster, which he had begun earlier in Goa.
Many of his friends have expressed their sorrow for his death and remember him for his sense of humor.
President of the Macanese Association Miguel Senna Fernandes said to Radio Macau, “Macau lost an ‘institution.’ A man that made himself Macanese by his unconditional love for this land that become his own.” He added that Alecrim was a man “of strong values but also of a lot of ‘savoir-faire,’ essential characteristics [to have to succeed] in Macau.”
Another of his friends, the lawyer and former lawmaker António Correia, commented to Radio Macau, “near him there was never sadness – that’s Alecrim’s trade mark,” and recalled the friend as a “living encyclopedia of what this land is.” RM