Ex-ambassador to US S.S. Ray dead

KOLKATA - Former Indian ambassador to the US and former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray died at his south Kolkata residence Saturday following renal failure, family sources said.

He is survived by his wife Maya Ray.

Ray was educated at Kolkata’s Presidency College and was then called to the Bar in England. He also captained the Presidency College cricket team.

Ray, 90, was West Bengal’s chief minister 1972-77. He served as Punjab governor 1986-89. In 1991, he was sent as ambassador to the US, where he remained from 1992 to 1996.

He was the last Congress chief minister of West Bengal, the Left Front storming to power in the elections held in 1977. The Left has been in power in the state since then. As chief minister, he is largely credited with putting down a violent Maoist insurgency.

Ray also served as education minister at the centre 1967-72.