Antonio ?Tony? Pano, the long-time IT editor of the Philippine Star, died on Friday, Sept. 5, due to cancer of the colon.
Pano?s demise was relayed in a Facebook post by Manny delos Reyes, the motoring editor of the Philippine Star and a contributor to the IT page which Pano handled.
According to Delos Reyes, Pano?s cancer was already in stage four when it was detected by physicians. He was 53, having been born on Nov. 2, 1960. He was the fourth child in the brood of six.?
His wake will be held in Funeraria Paz at Araneta Avenue in Quezon City and his remains will be cremated on Wednesday.
Pano, a bachelor, devoted much of his life on newspaper work despite getting a management engineering degree in college. Aside from the IT section, he also edited the travel and nation pages of the Intramuros-based broadsheet.
One of the most active editors when IT journalism was still in its nascent stage, Pano was also a frequent judge in the science writing segment of the National Secondary Schools Press Conference during the ?90s.
According to PR practitioner Jingjing Romero, Pano did not like dining out in high-end restaurants. “Because we have known each other since he was a budding telco reporter, he could be very frank and honest with me. He doesn’t fancy eating out with me. He preferred I send food at home so he could share them with his family,” Romero shares.
Romero also remembered overseas events she spent with the late editor: “We had fun travels together when he was a reporter… I remember meeting him in O’Hare Airport in Chicago for an Andersen Consulting trip. When he saw me, he broke into a big smile and told me was worried we won’t find each other in this big airport. He came from another coverage elsewhere in the US. And after Chicago and St. Charles, he was game that we spend Thanksgiving weekend with my brother-in-law in Atlanta.
“The other time was when we were supposed to go to Beijing but ended up in Hong Kong to cover Larry Ellison of Oracle. He was denied visa by the Chinese embassy. He was elated that Oracle moved Ellison’s presscon to HK, so he got his scoop. It was Ellison’s first trip to Asia.”
Update:
This story has been revised to indicate that Mr. Pano’s cause of death is colon cancer and not stomach cancer as earlier reported. Also, his course in college was management engineering, not accountancy. We apologize for the errors.