Saidur Rahman passes away

Saidur Rahman Lasker, a Bangladeshi-born economist, philanthropist, and community leader in Italy, breathed his last on January 31.

Born in Gopalganj, Saidur worked his way up to become a senior economist at the UN in Rome.

In his early life, he obtained a master's degree in economics from Dhaka University in 1961.

After his master's degree, he joined as an agricultural economist at the agriculture ministry, after obtaining

He later joined as a lecturer of economics at Chittagong Government College in 1963 and subsequently at Dhaka College.

Later in October 1966, he got a scholarship for a postgraduate diploma course at the University of Reading, UK. He also did a PhD from the University of Wales.

After completing that, he worked as an economist for six years for the Commonwealth Secretariat, before joining the Food and Agriculture Organization, where he worked for 25 years.

After retirement, he established non-profit schools -- a kindergarten school, a high school, and a hospital -- in his village Khandarpara in Muksudpur, Gopalganj.

He was also a founder member and board member of East West University and Dhaka School of Economics.

In 2020, Lasker was diagnosed with stage-4 bowel cancer and later moved to London.