By Matters India Reporter

Dhaka, Sept 12, 2020: Holy Cross Father Richard William Timm, a Magsaysay Award winner who contributed greatly to the reconstruction of newly created Bangladesh, died on September 11 in the United States. He was 97.

The “Father of NGOs in Bangladesh” passed away at the Holy Cross House in South Bend, Indiana.

Akhila D Rozario, director of Mirpur Agricultural Workshop and Training School, Trust of Caritas Bangladesh, confirmed the death to Dhaka Tribune on September 12.

“I received the information of Father Timm’s demise this morning (September 12). He was suffering from old age complications and was not doing well for the last couple of days” said Akhila Father Timm’s student in 1975 at Notre Dame, when the missionary taught zoology.

Father Timm was a member of the Sacred Heart Province and served in Bangladesh for about 66 years. He was one of the pioneering figures in Bangladesh’s education sector.

The former superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Dhaka, he was also one of the founders of Notre Dame College and served as the sixth principal of the college.

Notre Dame College Principal Holy Cross Father Hemanto Rozario expressed grief at the demise of Father Timm and prayed for the departed soul.

The college, on its Facebook page, also expressed grief over Father Timm’s death.

Father Timm was an educator, zoologist, and active participant in social development work.

He was born of German ancestry on March 2, 1923, in Michigan City, Indiana, USA. He was the second among the four siblings.

He came to Dhaka in October 1952 and joined Caritas as a planning officer, taking charge of war-time projects for devastated villages following the Liberation War in Bangladesh.

He was honored with the citizenship from three different governments in Bangladesh in response to his development works in the South Asian nation.

In 1974, after starting the Justice and Peace Commission, he served as the executive secretary for 23 years.

Father Timm was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1987 for International Understanding.

Father Timm could be considered the Father of NGO in Bangladesh. He was the initiating force for the Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh, the Coordinator Council for Human Rights in Bangladesh and South Asia Forum for Human Rights.

Father Timm took to writing to express his views against the genocide during the liberation war of Bangladesh in late 1960s. He emphasized the difficult situations on civilians and the violation of human rights. His letters written to Rohde served to build public opinion around the world and especially in United States against the war in Bangladesh.

He also conducted relief works for the distressed at the time of the war.

After the liberation war of Bangladesh, Father Timm Actively took part in the newborn country’s reconstruction work together with the UN, USAID, CORR (The Christian Organization for Relief and Rehabilitation, later Caritas) and Catholic Relief Service. He worked for the rehabilitation of the homeless and those who lost all in the war.

On November 12, 1970, a great cyclone struck the coastal areas of East Pakistan and killed at least 50,000 people. Father Timm, assisted by the students of Notre Dame College, CORR and HELP (Heartland Emergency Life-Saving Project), conducted several relief expeditions in the affected areas. The response was among the biggest of those taken by Non-government people in Bangladesh.

Father Timm, as a biologist, conducted exclusive surveys on Nematodes (roundworms) and discovered more than 250 new species. One of them, the Marine Nematode Timmia parva, was named after Timm himself.

The priest’s scientific expeditions involved a landscape spanning from Antarctica Penguin Colonies to the Mangrove of South Asia. Many expeditions were confined in the area of the Sundarbans and other parts of South Asia but he covered many other parts of the world as well. Other expeditions included Africa, Europe, Antarctica and The Americas.

Source: Dhaka Tribune and Wikipedia