Candle for the dead. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 7 April) – After surviving a near-fatal stroke years ago, eminent Kagayanon writer-director and entertainment journalist Nestor Torre, Jr. succumbed to complications caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Tuesday morning, April 6, a close family friend said.
Historian Nanette Roa said Torre passed away at the Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila.
He was 78.
Roa said that Torre had been suffering from a heart ailment that was made complicated due to COVID-19 infection.
Torre was one of the 382 COVID-19 deaths nationwide reported by the Department of Health on Tuesday.
Roa said that Torre contracted the coronavirus allegedly from his cook who came and prepared his food everyday.
She said that Torre suffered from a stroke in February 2018 and was undergoing therapy.
Torre blazed a career that spanned five decades, writing musicals and directing movies and TV shows in the Philippine entertainment industry.
His career jump-started when he directed the late night TV show “Two for the Road” with Elvira Manahan.
Torre was the resident entertainment columnist and former Saturday special editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He was considered an Inquirer stalwart since the paper’s early years in the mid-80’s.
He taught broadcast media at the University of the Philippines. He earned a Master’s degree in journalism, radio and television from the Northwestern University in Illinois.
Torre was the eldest son of Cagayan de Oro harbor pilot Capt. Nestor Torre and Isabelita Urbina-Torre.
He graduated in grade school, high school and college from the Jesuit-run Xavier University here.
