Well-known author, historian and economist Dr. Desmond Dudwa Phiri will be laid to rest this coming Tuesday in the commercial capital Blantyre, faceofmalawi can reveal.

DD Phiri died of anemia on Sunday morning at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital where he was receiving treatment for the past three weeks.

The vigil is currently taking place at DD Phiri’s son in Naperi, Blantyre.

Minister of Information and Communications Technolgy Henry Mussa has expressed shock over the death of DD Phiri.

“We learnt with shock demise of Dr. DD Phiri because he was not only a patriot, historian, economist; but one person who regarded information sharing as key to social-economic development. If you buy the Nation Newspaper, you will find an article by DD Phiri on economics, history, political. All that is now gone. I personally enjoyed reading his article.

“You can see that the institutional memory is gone where a majority of us were able to tap information and he was not mean with information on his life, economy and politics.

“He will be remembered as a person who loved his country through hard work. He gave it all his life, energy, and resources He was seen walking from HHI to his Aggrey Memorial School at the Chichiri Trade Fair Ground where he instilled the youth with knowledge for national development,” he said.

Until his death, DD Phiri has published 17 books in the fields of history, sociology and economics and was recognized by the Pan-African Writers’ Association (PAWA) as one of the top 23 authors in Africa in 2011.

He was a regular columnist in The Nation newspaper.