Eminent Botanist & Educationist Dinabandhu Mishra Passes Away In Bhubaneswar At 89

Bhubaneswar: Eminent botanist and educationist Prof Dinabandhu Mishra passed away in Bhubaneswar on Monday. He was 89.

Mishra is survived by two daughters and one daughter-in-law. His wife and son had predeceased him, family sources said.

His mortal remains have been kept at his Satyanagar residence. Cremation is slated to be held at Puri on Tuesday.

Known for academic excellence, Mishra leaves behind a legacy of high standards of personal ethos of being an independent individual. He took up law practice after he retired from government service. He practised law in service-related cases from 1995 to 2015 and lived a full life.

Mishra was principal at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, from July 21, 1983 to January 8, 1986. Thereafter, he was Director of both Higher and Secondary Education, Special Secretary to Higher Education Department, member of the syndicate Utkal university and Vice-Chancellor of Sri Jaganath Sanskrit University. He retired from government service in November, 1993.

Born on December 1, 1935 at Sri Mukundapur village in Khruda, Mishra received his education at Puri Zilla School, graduated and post-graduated in Botany at Ravenshaw College (now university) securing 1st positions in both. He started his service career at Ravenshaw College in January, 1957 qualifying Orissa Education Service (OES). Mishra was awarded Ph. D. degree in the University of Manitoba (Canada) availing Commonwealth Fellowship in 1963.

He joined as Associate Professor in Botany in Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology in 1964 and served there till 1969. In 1969, he joined as Reader in the Post-Graduate Department of Botany, Utkal University as one of the three founder professors and continued till 1975.

He published around 100 research papers in international journals of wide citations and 18 students have been awarded Ph.D. degree under his guidance in field of Plant Physiology, Biochemistry and Agriculture. He has also contributed many popular scientific articles and text books which are very popular among the college and university students.