LAHORE, Feb 15: Known educationist, poet and columnist Dr Hasan Rizvi died of a heart attack here on Saturday. He was 54.

Mr Rizvi who was made head of the Urdu department, Foreman Christian College, Lahore, a few days ago leaves behind a widow, a daughter and two sons.

Funeral prayers for him were held at the GOR-III ground at about 8pm and was laid to rest in a Model Town graveyard. People belonging to all walks of life attended the funeral prayers.

Qul ceremony will be held at his residence 3-C, GOR-III, Shadman, at 10am on Sunday.

After discussing his Basant engagements with Mr Wasif Nagi, he was going in his car on Wahdat Road when he felt a severe pain in the chest. He asked his driver to take him to his cousin living in a locality along the Wahdat Road. There he took some water but he condition deteriorated and he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

In-charge of the literary page of an Urdu daily for the last about two decades, he was well-known among the Urdu speaking community all over the world. An excellent and confident compere, Mr Rizvi had a pleasing personality and had conducted a number of mushairas on TV and stage.

Pride of Performance, Mr Rizvi was the author of a number of books on poetry. The most famous among them was the Kabhi kitabun mein phool rakhna.

He had also inked a travelogue, and published a selection of his columns and interviews of some writers.

Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, Communication and Works Minister Muhammad Tariq, Information Secretary Kamran Lashari, Pakistan Academy of Letters chairman Iftikhar Arif, Director-General Maula Bakhsh Rind, Resident Director Qazi Javed and many friends and colleagues of Dr Rizvi have expressed their grief over his sudden demise.

In their separate condolence messages, they paid tributes to his services in the fields of education, literature, culture and journalism and prayed that Allah may rest his soul in eternal peace and grant gratitude to the bereaved family.