Harry Gasser dies of stroke

CEBU, Philippines - Veteran broadcasting icon and former columnist of The FREEMAN Harry Gasser died of a stroke dawn yesterday at the Quezon City General Hospital. He was 76.

In a report from ABS-CBN’s website, his son, Henry, said that his father complained of breathing problems last Thursday and was brought to the hospital. He added that the pneumonia his father caught in December aggravated the latter’s heart condition and then triggered the stroke.

“Hindi ma-expectorate ang plema niya, na-pwersa ang puso niya,” he said.

Around 3 a.m. Thursday, Gasser’s blood pressure and heart rate dropped. Henry said doctors tried but failed to revive his father. Blood clots were reportedly found in his brain.

Gasser’s remains were brought to St. Peter’s Chapel in Commonwealth, Quezon City.

Henry described his father as an active person who played golf and jogged. Gasser has three children with veteran comedienne, Flora Gasser.

He once anchored NewsWatch of RPN 9, now Solar News Channel, and was Radio Veritas news manager. He later moved on to ABS-CBN in Cebu and anchored TV Patrol.

Solar News Channel Regional News Operations head Jun Tariman said he was then the ABS-CBN Cebu news chief when they hired Gasser from Manila to anchor TV Patrol Cebu in late 90’s. He praised Gasser’s style of newscasting.

“I had difficulty at first adjusting his style of delivering the news at that time when ‘barking-style’ of newscasting had started to be the style among local news,” he said in his Facebook account.  (FREEMAN)