“I always set an example of fidelity to my vocation”: Vladimir Sungorkin, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, died

Vladimir Sungorkin, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, has died at the age of 68.

This information was confirmed by the editors of the publication.

“On September 14, the editor-in-chief, general director of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Vladimir Sungorkin, died suddenly.

The tragedy happened in Primorsky Krai during another expedition to collect material for a book about the great pioneer of the Far East, Vladimir Arsenyev, ”the Komsomolskaya Pravda website says.

Sungorkin was born on June 16, 1954 in Khabarovsk.

In 1976 he graduated from the Far Eastern State University.

In the same year, he began working as his own correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in the construction zone of the Baikal-Amur Railway.

In the early 1980s, he worked as his own correspondent for the newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya, but in 1985 he returned to Komsomolskaya Pravda as deputy editor of the department.

In 1992, he was elected chief executive officer of the Komsomolskaya Pravda joint-stock company, and in 1994, the chairman of the board of shareholders of Komsomolskaya Pravda CJSC.

In 1998, Sungorkin became chairman of the board of directors of JSC Komsomolskaya Pravda.

He was appointed editor-in-chief of the newspaper on April 29, 1999.

Condolences in connection with the death of the journalist were expressed by Vladimir Putin.

The head of state called Sungorkin "a patriot, an extraordinary, creatively gifted, talented person."

“He went from a correspondent covering the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline to the head of one of the largest and most popular media outlets, the legendary Komsomolskaya Pravda.

And he always set an example of loyalty to his vocation, professional ethics, he knew how to rally colleagues into a real team of like-minded people, ”the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

Sungorkin's colleagues shared their memories of meeting the journalist and media manager.

“Cheerful, cheerful, ironic... He makes fun of everyone, especially himself.

A beautiful young wife, very young children.

As I was told, that's how he died yesterday.

On a hike, in the forest, on my feet, ”Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, wrote on her Telegram channel.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that she had seen Sungorkin on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, but did not have time to talk to the journalist.

“I saw in Vladivostok: I was going down the escalator, he was going up.

In the crowd and the rumble it was impossible to shout, and I thought that we would definitely meet again and say hello normally.

Did not work out.

Kingdom of heaven,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia (UJR) Vladimir Solovyov commented in an interview with RT about the death of Sungorkin, recalling the time when the career of the editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda began.

“He began his career precisely as a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda on the construction of BAM.

Many years have passed since then ... After that, he went through many journalistic stages, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

As Solovyov noted, Sungorkin built one of the most successful media holdings of modern Russia and was proud of this work himself.

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“And he really was one of the most prominent and most successful media managers in modern Russia.

It is no coincidence that he was one of the first to receive the title of Honored Journalist of Russia.

He was awarded almost all the main awards of the Union of Journalists: this is the Golden Pen and the Legend of Russian Journalism, Solovyov noted.

In turn, Vladimir Mamontov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, President of the Govorit Moskva radio station, told RT about an old acquaintance with Sungorkin, which began in his student years.

He especially noted the patriotism of the journalist.

“And where was he to die, if not in his homeland?

He was in the Far East on another expedition with the Russian Geographical Society.

All his vacations, he always rushed somewhere to raft along mountain rivers, to walk along remote haunts.

For him, the river, taiga, Siberia, the Far East - all this was real, it was a piece of his life, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

Also on russian.rt.com, Bystritsky called Sungorkin a decisive and creative person

The deputy general director of the Komsomolskaya Pravda media group, Anzhelika Sulkhaeva, in an interview with RT, also noted that the journalist died in his homeland, where a significant part of his professional activity took place.

“Vladimir Nikolayevich was always kind to the Far East, he was always very interested in what was happening there, he always followed his native land, he was very kind to the land, he often visited it,” she said.

Director General of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives Roman Karmanov said that the expedition, during which Sungorkin died, had been planned by the journalist for many years.

“I know that this expedition was planned and prepared for several years, and Vladimir Nikolayevich really wanted to go there, to fulfill this dream,” Karmanov told an RT correspondent.