BRAC founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed dies at 83

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of the world’s largest non-government development organisation BRAC, has died at the age of 83.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed recently retired as chairperson of BRAC. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed recently retired as chairperson of BRAC.

He breathed his last at the Apollo Hospital in Dhaka around 8:30pm on Friday battling a brain tumour, the NGO said in a statement.

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His body will be placed on the Army Stadium premises in the capital from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Sunday to allow people pay their last respects.

His Namaz-e-Janaza will also be held there at 12.30pm before his burial at the graveyard in Banani.

President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have led the nation in paying tributes to Abed.

The founder of BRAC recently retired as chairperson of the organisation. He still had a titular role as chairperson emeritus. He was hospitalised last month after falling ill.

He founded in 1972 what was then Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee or BRAC, later changed into Brac, to support war-torn Bangladesh’s rebuilding efforts.

It eventually grew into the world’s largest indigenous NGO and a global brand in the development community.

Brac’s activities range from education to extreme poverty alleviation to social business to massive microcredit operations across Bangladesh.

Brac International has operations in about a dozen countries, from Afghanistan to Africa.

Many believe Sir Fazle should have won Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

In 2010, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by the British Crown in recognition of his services to reducing poverty in Bangladesh and internationally.

The many prestigious awards won by Abed include Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership 1980.

He also won Spanish Order of Civil Merit and Leo Tolstoy International Gold Medal.

He was among the Fortune magazine list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders in 2014 and 2017.

Born in 1936, he studied accountancy in London.

The 1970 cyclone and 1971 Liberation War in Bangladesh dramatically changed the direction of his life after he started working as a senior corporate executive at Pakistan Shell.

He left his job and moved to London, where he helped initiate Action Bangladesh and HELP Bangladesh in support of the war of independence from Pakistan.

He returned to Bangladesh early in 1972 and started work to support the rebuilding efforts of the new nation.