BOMBAY: Dr Zoe Ansari renowned Urdu writer and critic died of liver cancer at a private nursing home in south Bombay Thursday night according to family sources.

A celebrity of Urdu literature Dr Ansari 65 had over a dozen books to his credit and had translated works of Tolstoy and Pushkin form Russian to Urdu. His first book Warak Warak and Ghalib Shenasi published in two volumes had won him wide acclaim.

Dr Ansari was the head of the department of foreign languages and a professor of Russian in the University of Bombay for several years till his retirement in 1985.

He also edited “Aiyna”a weekly published from Delhi and Shah Raha a monthly publication in Urdu for more than a decade.

Following his illness Dr Ansari had gone to Moscow and London for treatment and returned only a month back. He visited Moscow several times during his career and had also worked on a Russian Urdu dictionary.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991