Preetlari’s youngest daughter dies at 84

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 7

Anusuya Singh, the youngest daughter of Punjabi writer Gurbakhsh Singh Preetlari, passed away in Merida, Venezuela this morning. She was 84.

Sukirat Anand, her nephew confirmed the news of her death.

Most of her life, she taught English at Merida University in Venezuela. She was from the first batch of The Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (PFU) in 1960. The PFU was established in 1960 to provide higher education to Third World students.

Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari had gone to the Soviet Union in 1959 with a delegation of writers. During a discussion, the first rector of the PFU was also present.

“He explained how they wanted to host students from the third world,” said Sukirat. Following that, she got admitted in PFU at MA Philology.

In university, she fell in love with Raul Jesus Estevez Laprea, who was studying physics. In 1965, they moved to Venezuela. Both of them taught in Merida University. She is survived by two sons and a daughter.