I am deeply saddened by the untimely death of Dr. A. H. Jaffor Ullah. Here is an obituary on him in the local newspaper in New Orleans.
Dr. Ullah was a good friend of mine, although we lost contact lately. I met him sometime in 1995 when I was doing a summer teaching job at Tulane University. In the summer of 1996 we used to meet quite often. At that time I was a researcher at the USDA Southern Regional Research Center, away from my regular faculty position at Xavier University, and Dr. Ullah was a senior researcher there.
He was the editor cum publisher of a monthly magazine called Bangla Barta, which he used to send for free to his friends and acquaintances. I was a contributor for that magazine. We used to exchange ideas about articles in the News from Bangladesh, where he was a key player, and I was a pretty frequent contributor. I also had my first lesson on the stock market business from him.
He and his family were a cultured bunch, with literary, linguistic and musical talents and activities. Our families visited each other a few times from 1995-1997. I met his son Rashad first when he was a high school kid visiting his dad's office. I remember, when I was talking with him in English, he said to me something like, "Uncle, we can talk in Bangla also." Of course, later he did a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Yale University.
The death of Dr. Ullah is indeed a great loss for the secular voices that originated from Bangladesh. I salute Dr. Ullah for his contributions to rational discourses on human issues of the Indian subcontinent and of the world.
Sukhamaya Bain
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From: Avijit Roy <charbak_bd@yahoo.com>
To: Mukto-mona YahooGroups <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>; MM Publication <mm_publication@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 1:51 AM
Subject: [mukto-mona] Dr. A. H. Jaffor Ullah passed away
To: Mukto-mona YahooGroups <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>; MM Publication <mm_publication@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 1:51 AM
Subject: [mukto-mona] Dr. A. H. Jaffor Ullah passed away
Farewell, great voice of secularism, Dr. Jaffor Ullah! You were a great voice of reason and humanity.
An Obituary:
Regards,
Avijit
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