Calcutta, Aug. 17: Academic and former Visva-Bharati University vice-chancellor Nemai Sadhan Bose passed away this morning. He was 73.

A son and wife survive Bose, who was admitted to a city nursing home on August 6 following a prostate problem and underwent surgery the following day. The operation was apparently successful, but his condition deteriorated on August 15 and he went into a coma. The ailing educationist breathed his last in the nursing home at 11 am today.

The last rites were performed at the Shibpur burning ghat this evening.

Born in 1931 in Howrah, Bose had his early education in Howrah Vivekananda Institution. He did his BA in history from St Paul’s College, Calcutta, and MA from Calcutta University. Bose obtained his PhD from London University and received a fellowship from Harvard in 1966-67. Awarded a DLitt by London University in 1972, he joined Jadavpur University as a professor. He became vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati in 1984 and retired in that capacity five years later.

The recipient of Fullbright and Rockefeller Foundation scholarships, he was a visiting professor at South California University and had several books, including Indian Awakening and Bengal; Indira Gandhi on Herself and Her Times; and Swami Vivekananda, to his credit.