Veteran pathologist Subir Dutta died of Covid on Friday. He was 86.

Dutta is survived by his wife, daughter and grandson.

Dutta had set up Scientific Clinical Laboratory in Taltala, one of the city’s oldest private pathological laboratories.

He was admitted to a private hospital in Dhakuria on April 25 after he tested positive for Covid-19.

He had been on a ventilator since admission. Doctors said Dutta's condition started to deteriorate a few days ago.

Born in 1935 in Calcutta, Dutta went to Hindu School and then to Presidency College before joining the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.

Over the past two years, Dutta finished writing a book. “It would be published posthumously,” said a family member.

Dutta was the dean of the medicine department of Calcutta University. All the medical colleges in Calcutta were under the university then. Dutta was also a member of the senate and syndicate of the university.

In 2003, Calcutta University had awarded him for being an eminent teacher, his family said.

Dutta was attached to several health care programmes at the national level.

Several prominent physicians and pathologists mourned Dutta’s death as the news broke on Friday morning.