Former legislator and champion of the cause of education and rural development P B Patil died here today due to cancer.
He was 82.
According to his family members, Patil was suffering from stomach cancer for the last two years.
Patil, the founder of educational institution Shantiniketan Lokvidyapeeth, contributed immensely to the field of education and rural development.
The visionary leader had founded the Lokvidyapeeth, acknowledging that spread of formal and non-formal education was one of the primary needs of independent India.
Patil, along with his friends, who themselves were first generation learners, started a hostel for school students coming from villages in 1952 at Islampur in this West Maharashtra district.
Patil's work attracted the attention of stalwarts in the field of freedom movement like Acharaya Jawadekar, late chief minister Vasantdada Patil, late deputy PM Yashwantrao Chavan, among others.
Patil groomed careers of hundreds of students across diverse fields in his lifetime.
