P R Gopinathan Nair (affectionately called PRG by his friends and colleagues) passed away on August 6, 2008, at the age of 78. A brilliant student, PRG obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Kerala and began his academic career as a researcher in the Department of Economics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, in the mid-1960s.

PRG was closely associated with the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) from its earliest days. After his retirement from the University of Kerala in the mid-1990s, he devoted himself to work at CDS where he was an Honorary Fellow. Both in the university and in CDS, PRG nurtured and groomed a large number of students who now occupy important positions in India and abroad.