UNB, Dhaka :Professor Dr Khaleda Ekram, the first female Vice Chancellor (VC) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), died at a hospital in Bangkok early Tuesday. She was 66.Former dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning and head of the Department of Architecture, Khaleda Ekram breathed her last at Bangkok General Hospital around 2:05am after fighting for her life for the last 10 days, said her protocolofficer Rezaul Karim. He said the Buet VC, who had been suffering from ‘non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma’ a kind of cancer, was flown to Bangkok from Dhaka in the early hours of May 14. She had been on life support from May 17 as her condition seriously deteriorated.Buet Public Relations officer Shah Alam said Khaleda Ekram’s family members and the Buet authorities will decide when her mortal remains will be brought back home from Bangkok.Buet authorities suspended all academic activities on Tuesday following the VC’s demise.Khaleda Ekram is survived by one son, two daughters and a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn her death. Born in August 6, 1950, Dr Khaleda Ekram joined as a teacher in Buet on completion of her studies at Architecture Department of the same university.She was made Buet Vice Chancellor replacing Prof Nazrul Islam on September 11, 2014. Khaleda Ekram was the fist female VC of Buet and second one in the history of country’s public university.Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed their deep shocks at the death of Khaleda Ekram. The Prime Minister said the nation has lost an eminent educationist at her death.In separate condolence messages, the President and Prime Minister prayed for the eternal peace of her departed soul and conveyed their sympathies to the bereaved family members.Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had granted Tk 20 lakh from her special fund to support treatment of Dr Khaleda Ekram whose condition deteriorated fast over the past week in Bangkok.On May 11, she was admitted to Square Hospital in Dhaka after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was flown to Bangkok by an emergency air ambulance in the early hours of May 14.
