An era comes to an end, RIP Maj Geoffrey Douglas Langlands

Aitchison College’s former dean Major Geoffrey Douglas Langlands, passed away at the age of 101 on Wednesday, 2nd January 2019.

He also taught Prime Minister Imran Khan during his days at the educational institute.

According to a statement released by the semi-private boys’ school, “Aitchison College mourns the passing of Major Geoffrey Douglas Langlands MBE, CMG, HI, SPk who left us quietly on Wednesday, January 2, 2019, at 10:15 a.m. after a brief illness”.

“Born on October 21, 1917, and 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,” the statement added.

Carey Schofield, who took over as Principal of the Langlands School and College in Chitral after him, said that he will be very sadly missed,  “He loved the country and it was his decision to stay on after 1947″.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed sorrow and grief over the demise of his teacher at Aitchison College, Lahore.

In a tweet, the prime minister  wrote: 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. (I was 12 years old in the school picture).

Major Langlands came to the subcontinent with the British army and decided to stay in Pakistan after the partition, he took up the career as an educationalist.

He ran the Langlands School and College in Chitral for 24 years and took up residence at the Aitchison College in Lahore in 2013.

The most outstanding part of his life was his decade-long stay from April 1979 to September 1989 in North Waziristan. Langlands took up the position of principal after the then newly established Cadet College Razmak’s first principal left.

He was also a mentor to many distinguished names in Pakistan, including the current premier, businessman Haroun Rashid, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Aleem Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and many others.