RENOWNED radio personality Yaminiasi Gaunavou, commonly known as YG, died yesterday.
YG suffered from a kidney failure and was admitted at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital (CWM) in Suva.
He died at 3am yesterday.
His son Semiti Gaunavou said his father's death came as a surprise to his mother Mereisi and his two sisters Kasalaini and Seini.
The Gaunavou family was still trying to come to terms with the sad news when they were visited by this newspaper at their family home in Laucala Beach Estate yesterday.
"My father is a very humble man, very polite and loved by everyone who came to know him," Mr Gaunavou said.
"He's very committed to his work, but when he's at home, he would leave everything aside and focus on his family," he said.
Originally from Vanuavatu Island in Lau, YG was born and raised in the village.
YG worked in the local media industry for a very long time.
What many might not know is that YG was part of a group of local musicians who started off a colourful and popular band known as the Gaunavou Group.
Most people know him simply as YG and his catchy voice is hard to miss as the master of ceremony for various national and numerous social functions.
Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls said it was YG who appointed her as a copywriter for the (then) Fiji Broadcasting Commission in 1988 and opened the doors to the "theatre of the mind".
"My dedication to the field of broadcasting is certainly a homage to the professional standards he set for me," Mrs Bhagwan-Rolls said.
"YG like many of his generation of broadcasters set the scene for those of us who walked through the doors of Broadcasting House that radio was not just a skill but a profession and an art," she said. YG is survived by his wife, 10 children and 15 grandchildren.