Major (retd.) Geoffrey Langlands, a former British officer who stayed on in Pakistan after the end of the colonial rule and became one of the country's most famous educators, with students including Prime Minister Imran Khan, died in Lahore on Wednesday. He was 101.
Langlands has been honoured with Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Order of St. Michael and St. George, and Order of British Empire by the Queen of England for his contribution to humanity and education.
Among Langlands' students were Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
"Saddened to learn of the passing of my teacher. Apart from being our teacher, he instilled the love for trekking and our northern areas in me - before the KKH was built," Khan tweeted along with pictures of him with Langlands.
"I was 12 years old in the school (Aitchison College Lahore) picture," he said.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew said Pakistan has "lost a great friend and teacher of generations of its students."
Born in 1917 in Yorkshire, England, with a twin brother, Langlands lost his father to flu pandemic of the following year. His mother succumbed to cancer when he was 10 and he and his brother and younger sister were left in the care of grandparents.
The kindness of a family friend allowed him to be put through public school at King's College Taunton. With no money, university was out of the question and teaching followed.
A mathematician, Langlands was working in a private school in Croydon when World War II broke out in September 1939.
He joined the British Army in 1939. Following his commission, he was sent to India.
After partition, he was transferred to the Pakistan Army, which he willingly accepted. He was holding the rank of a major when he retired.
On the request of the then Pakistan President Ayub Khan, Langlands stayed on in Pakistan and was given a job at Aitchison College in 1954. In 1974, he was made the head master of Prep School.
In 1979, Langlands was asked to give up his comfortable job at Aitchison to take up a difficult but rewarding job in North Waziristan, a challenge he could not refuse. He was appointed as principal to Razmak Cadet College. He served there until 1989.
"More than 300 students from Razmak Cadet College made into the Army as commissioned officers - 17 made lieutenant colonels. They are some of the finest men today," Langlands had said proudly back in 2010 in an interview. He remained principal of this school for ten years.
Later, he joined the Sayurj Public School, Chitral, as principal. He developed the school, purchased land for it and made constructions thereon after raising funds for it. The school was renamed after him and is now called the Langlands School and College, Chitral. Langlands served as the principal until the age of 95.
"Aitchison College mourns the passing of Major Geoffrey Douglas Langlands, who left us quietly on Wednesday after a brief illness," Aitchison announced on its official website.
"Affectionately known to all as 'The Major', we acknowledge the life of a soldier, teacher, gentleman, story-teller, mountaineer and humanitarian whose life was devoted in service to others and especially his adopted country Pakistan," it said.
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