Former Goa Chief Minister Wilfred De Souza passes away at 88

PANAJI: Former Goa Chief Minister Wilfred De Souza, who held the post three times, passed away this morning after suffering a heart attack. He was 88.

"De Souza was shifted here from another private hospital last night. He was breathless. He died of heart attack this morning at 9.15 AM," said Dr Shekhar Salkar, clinical head at Manipal Hospital near here.

He is survived by wife Grace and two daughters Joanne and Suzie.

A surgeon-turned-politician, De Souza twice served as the state's Chief Minister from Congress. He represented Goa Rajiv Congress (a breakaway faction of Indian National Congress) during his third tenure.

He was Chief Minister from May 18, 1993 to April 2, 1994, second time from April 8, 1994 to November 23, 1998 and third time from July 29, 1998 to February 8, 1999.

De Souza represented Benaulim, Calangute and Saligao constituencies before being defeated in the 2007 Assembly election.

He was double Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons at UK. He also received the Dr B C Roy award for best medical man-cum-statesman from former President K R Narayanan in 1996.