KARACHI, Feb 13: Dr Prof Ehsan Rashid, eminent economists and former Vice Chancellor of Karachi University, died here on Wednesday night at Aga Khan Hospital where he was rushed after he suffered a heart attack. He was 75.

He is survived by the widow, Nayyer. Besides, thousands of his students, who revered him, and a vast circle of educationists will mourn his death.

Son of a celebrated man of letters, Prof Rashid Ahmad Siddiqui, Dr Ehsan was a brilliant student of Aligarh University, where he also taught for a few years as lecturer after doing his master’s in economics. He took doctorate degree from the University of Bonn on Joseph Schumpeter’s Theory of Innovation in 1956.

After coming to Pakistan, he was appointed reader at Karachi University and later as head of the Economics Department. In 1970, Dr Ehsan Rashid laid the foundation of Applied Economics Research Institute and was made its first director.

In 1976 he was posted as Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi. As the vice chancellor, he struggled to turn the university into an autonomous institutions by pleading less interference in the academic affairs of the university. When he saw he could not resist these interferences, he resigned his post.

He was a widely-read man and was proficient in Persian and English as well as Urdu.

In 1980 he became a visiting professor at Harvard University for a year and after returning from Harvard he was sent to Jordan as ambassador of Pakistan, where he served the country for over four years.

He also remained a member of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Chairman of the Pakistan Economists and Bankers Committee of Islamic Ideology Council. Later in 1988 he was appointed chairman of the Pakistan Islamization Commission.

His last appointment was as Rector of Islamic University, Islamabad.

His funeral procession will be taken out on Thursday from his residence: 34-A, Khayban-i-Mujahid Off 17th Street, Phase V, DHA. Funeral prayers will be offered at Masjid-i-Sultan after Zuhar prayers and he will be buried in the Gizri graveyard.