Professor Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, an accomplished artist, and professor at the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University who won the Ekushey Padak, passed away this afternoon while receiving care at a local hospital. He was 85.
According to family accounts, Chowdhury had heart and lung problems.
Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, today expressed her shock and sorrow at Professor Samarjit Roy Chowdhury’s passing. The premier expressed his sincere condolences to the grieving family and prayed for the salvation of the deceased’s soul in a message of sorrow.
In the late afternoon, his body was transported to his home in the capital, where it was afterward deposited at the mortuary of the BIRDEM Hospital.
Between 10am and 11am, the body will be held on the grounds of the Dhaka University Fine Arts Faculty so that his coworkers and students can say goodbye to him.
Later, his body will be taken to Central Shaheed Minar to allow people of all strata to pay their last tributes to the eminent artist. His body will be kept there from 11.30am to 12.30pm.
Later, he will be cremated at Sabujbagh crematorium. Samarjit Roy Chowdhury was born on 10 February 1937 in Comilla District.
In 1960, he graduated in Graphic Design from the Government Art Institute now the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University.
There he was guided by legendary artists Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan and others.
Chowdhury joined the faculty of Dhaka University and worked for 43 years and retired as Professor in 2003. Then he served as Dean of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts of the Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology until 2010. As of 2014, he was serving as a supernumerary professor at the University of Dhaka.
He was conferred with Ekushey Padak in 2014.
