Dr A. R. Kidwai Passes away
By Naved Masood

Dr A.R. Kidwai breathed his last at the age of 96 in the Fortis Escort Hospital in Delhi last week.With his death ends an era of people handpicked by DrZakir Hussain who went on to leave their indelible marks in their respective area of activity. 

This is no time to chronicle his remarkably varied and eventful life - suffice it to say that a career which started as a Junior Chemist at Hamdard with a stint at the UP Congress Committee in its Secretariat passed through the University of Cornell (PhD 1949), CIPLA Laboratories Aligarh (Reader in Chemistry 1953 to 1960 and Professor 1960 to 1967); he also worked as Proctor of the University and its first Dean of Students Welfare. 

He left Aligarh in 1967 when on the strong recommendation of President Zakir Husain he was appointed Member of the UPSC. He went on to be its Chairman from 1973 to 1979. This was followed up by Governorship of Bihar, Haryana and West Bengal, Membership of Rajya Sabha, Chancellorship of AMU and many other important offices.

It was not the high offices which he occupied that brought him eminence.It was his innate modesty, affability and problem-solving capability that made him popular in all sections of society who had the opportunity to see him in action…

I have many fond recollections of Doctor Sahib's hospitality, his anecdotes and his sense of humor. He gave you full liberty and was as good a listener as a talker. His analysis of difficult situations and their solutions would require a separate piece. He used to say that his training and researches in organic reaction mechanisms taught him to think creatively but with focus.

He was laid to rest in JamiaMilliaIslamia graveyard and will be sorely missed.