19th death anniversary of Tawfiq Aziz Khan today

Today is the 19th death anniversary of Tawfiq Aziz Khan, former executive editor of The Daily Star, sports writer and commentator.

One of the leading journalists of the country, Tawfiq joined the then Pakistan Observer as a staff reporter in 1958 while he was a student of Dhaka University.

He worked as public relations officer at the erstwhile EPIDC (East Pakistan Industries Development Corporation) and Titas Gas Corporation from 1968 to 1975, before joining the Dainik Bangla and the Bichitra as general manager.

He joined The Daily Star in 1990 as its founder managing editor. He became executive editor in 1997 and worked in that capacity till his death.

The first English sports commentator of the country, Tawfiq Aziz worked in radio, and later in television, since 1958. He was also the resident editor of Cricketer Asia of Hong Kong and Sports Times of Lahore.

Tawfiq Aziz was the founder editor of the fortnightly Sports World (Krira Jagat). He was also involved with the weekly Holiday at the initial stage of its publication.

A permanent member of Jatiya Press Club, he was elected president of Bangladesh Sports Writers' Association six times.

He was also a national committee member of FEMA (Fair Election Monitoring Alliance).

He was a founder member and president of the country's first group theatre 'Drama Circle' and served the Rotary Club of Dhaka North-West as its president for two consecutive years from 1999. He died of lung cancer at the age of 64 on February 11, 2001.