Prof Zillur Rahman Siddiqui no more

Eminent author and educationist Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui died early Wednesday at the age of 85. The former caretaker government adviser fell seriously ill at his house in the city on Tuesday night and was declared dead by doctors at Samorita Hospital in Panthapath. An official at the private hospital said that Siddiqui was brought to the hospital around 1:00am. ‘The doctors said he was brought dead there.’ Emergency department's Dr Nurul Aktar Sumon said: ‘When he was brought in, we rushed to the ambulance to check his vitals, but he was already dead.’ Asked about the cause of death, Sumon said it could be old-age complications. ‘But the reason cannot be determined until we run some tests,’ he added. Siddiqui, who won Bangladesh’s highest civilian award Swadhinata Padak (Independence Award) in 2010, has left his wife, three sons and a daughter. Siddiqui was born in Durgapur in Jhenidah district on Feb 23, 1928. He attended Bankura and Jalpaiguri Zilla Schools and matriculated from Jessore Zilla School in 1945. Later, he studied at Presidency College in Kolkata. He passed BA in 1950 and MA the following year in English Literature with 1st Class from Dhaka University. His classmates in English Literature include late poet Shamsur Rahman and late former cabinet secretary Md Mujibul Haque, according to a news agency.