The entire journalists' community will be mourning the passing of Roushanuzzaman, who breathed his last at his residence in Dhaka's Uttara on Wednesday, April 8. Yet few will miss him as much as I, given the close bond we shared over many years, for his best years were spent at UNB and Dhaka Courier. Roushan was a rarity. With freedom of expression severely restricted in the first two decades since Bangladesh's birth, journalism suffered a stunted growth that prevented the best talents from entering the field, lest their prospects should be undermined.

Roushan however fell in love with the profession while he was still studying a different subject at university, when he grabbed an opportunity to work as the DU campus correspondent for BSS. He was one of the few truly talented individuals who showed the willingness and verve to work as a journalist in those first two decades, and in that sense, a pioneer. I was able to woo him away from BSS to work for both UNB and Courier, and I consider it as one of my most cherished moves.

He was every bit the old school, hard-headed, hard-smoking editor, and suffered no fools, even though in both manner and temperament, he was immaculate. Those who knew him though, will hardly be surprised that those lungs gave away at the end.

Born on October 10, 1949 in Rajbari, Roushanuzzaman started journalism as a campus correspondent of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha while studying at Dhaka University's History department. After his post-graduation, Roushan joined BSS as a staff correspondent.

He took training from the Thompson Foundation. He worked for the British newspaper the Telegraph, the French news agency AFP and Gemini Feature Service. He also worked for United News of Bangladesh and Dhaka Courier, he also worked for the Financial Express and Holiday. He went on retirement in December 2017 from the New Age as its associate editor.