Aurangabad, March 20:
Secretary of Swami Ramanand Teerth Research Institute (SRTRI) and former principal of S B College Science Dr Sharad Advant passed away on Friday night.
He was 79 and leaves behind wife, a son, a daughter, a son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
Dr Sharad, who hailed from Paithan, joined SB College as a teacher after completing M Sc and Ph D. He was the principal of the college between 1985 and 2003.
Dr Sharad, the secretary of SRTRI, was president of the Principals’ Federation, Senator of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar University (Bamu) and NAAC committee.
He was a noted educationist and wrote subjects like education, environment and backward region’s development through journals and daily newspapers. The educationist authored and edited six books.
After retirement, he devoted his whole time to society's progress by working with social and voluntary orgnisations.
Social and political activists used to seek advice on various issues, including Marathwada's development backlog and the water share of Marathwada.
Inspired by freedom fighter late Padmavibhushan Govindbhai Shroff, Dr Sharad worked on different posts of Marathwada Janata Vikas Parishad.
He actively participated in development movements under the guidance of Govintbhai Shroff and late N V Deshpande for four decades.
Dr Advant was a member of the Higher Education (HE) Quality and Management Cell of the State Government and gave new direction for HE quality improvement.
Rich tributes were paid to him online in a programme held at SRTRI on Saturday morning.
Institute members said that Dr Sharad’s death created a void in society.
Prominent among those who paid tributes included Suresh Barpande, Sarang Takalkar, R S Balekar, Jeevan Desai, adv Pradeep Deshmukh, Dr Rashmi Borikar, Dr Makrand Paithankar, Dr Mohan Phule, P S Kulkarni, Satish Shiradkar, Suhas Pathak and Mukund Kulkarni.