Prominent economist Professor Nurul Islam, who headed the country's first Planning Commission as deputy chairman, has passed away. He died of a heart attack at around 12 pm (local time) in Washington, DC yesterday.
Professor Adnan Morshed of the Catholic University of America in Washington, USA, confirmed the matter around 6:30pm (BdST).
Professor Islam was serving as an Emeritus Fellow of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) until his death. In 1987, he joined the organization as Senior Policy Adviser to the Director General.
During his long career, Prof. Nurul Islam served as Assistant Director-General of the Economic and Social Policy Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Apart from this, he was the chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Research (BIDS). He was a professor at the Economics Department of Dhaka University.
Prof. Islam completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Economics from Dhaka University and did his PhD from Harvard University, United States.
He has served as a visiting academic in various reputed universities of the world. Notable among them are Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and the London School of Economics.