Egypt mourns the passing of one of its most distinguished intellectuals, Roshdi Said, who died in Washington DC where he lived on and off for the past 30 years. Said graduated in 1937 from Cairo University and was the first Egyptian to hold a masters degree from Harvard University. He was honoured by the late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser in 1962 with a first class medal for science and arts in appreciation of his scientific contributions to Egypt. I illustrated him with a prominent nose, a determined chin and intelligent eyes. His interests were not restricted to science as he was also interested in politics and especially the politics of water and the Nile. He was a vocal critic of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel and will be sorely missed by myself personally and scores of other Egyptians.
