In Memoriam

Dr. Mohammed Mostofa Kamal, the founding president of CMC ALUMNI USA left us for an eternal journey on July 20 2017.

It’s a tradition to speak good of people after their death. But Kamal vai was such a soul – who I always spoke with great admiration even before his death. When I entered medical college – Kamal vai was in his twilight days in CMC campus. Never interacted with him in CMC. I got to know him in New York City when we started the process of this Alumni formation. I was a poor intern doctor then, so was Ehsan vai and others. We needed some guardian and someone who will take financial risk on our behalf! We were getting ready for our first ever reunion, a lot of money at risk for that time and for a few resident doctors. What if we book the ballroom, hire artist and order all the food, but only ten Alumni show up? How we’ll pay for the financial deficit? Kamal vai reassured us, “You go ahead, do what need to be done, I am taking the financial risk”. First reunion was a grand success. We elected him our first president. He has always been our silent leader, the quiet person in the room who have us confidence in ourselves!

The rest is history. Kamal vai was a person who was above all these silly tribalism of politics, selfishness, all the vanity driven acts we do. He was a pure soul. I tried to learn and adopt that purity from Kamal vai – failed miserably!

There are very very few people I considered a role model in life, Kamal was my role model.

Rest In Peace dear Kamal vai!

-By Dr. Rumi Ahmed Khan (CMC28)