PETALING JAYA: Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) founding father, Arshad Ayub, died early this morning, aged 93.
A brief statement by the family said he breathed his last at 2.06am.
He had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) since last Tuesday over undisclosed health issues.
Arshad, who hailed from Muar, Johor, was the first director of Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM) from 1967 to 1975, before it became UiTM.
He also had stints as the secretary-general of the agriculture ministry and deputy governor of Bank Negara Malaysia.
In 2015, Arshad, then UiTM’s pro-chancellor, proposed that admissions to the university for postgraduate courses be opened to non-Bumiputeras.
He reiterated this call in 2019 when he was no longer with UiTM, though this was dismissed by the university.