Former Malaysian official dies

Wed, 08 Jul 1998 | Source: REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia's former central bank governor and prominent business leader Ismail Ali has died due to complications from flu. He was 79.

Newspapers said yesterday that Ismail, who was also Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's brother-in-law, was admitted to a hospital with flu on June 22 and died Monday of an aneurysm due to complications.

The Cambridge-educated lawyer served as the governor of the central Bank Negara from 1962 to 1980, setting the record as Asia's longest-serving central banker.

He was also the first Malaysian to take over the reigns at Bank Negara since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957, and served as World Bank executive director from 1958-1960.

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