The first Chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women, Prof Biloris Lyndem Laso, died on Sunday in California.
She was 82 and had been battling gallbladder cancer.
Lyndem had led the Women’s Commission from 2005 to 2008. She was a former head of the Centre of Distance Education at North-Eastern Hill University and a former coordinator of the IGNOU Study Centre, Shillong.
She was also the former director of NEHU’s College Development Council and former director of NEHU’s State Resources Centre since its foundation in 1987.
In 1999, she had won the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Award for Women Empowerment in recognition of her grassroots level efforts towards empowering women through literacy.
Lyndem had published many books and articles and worked on multiple projects sponsored by the Department of Social Welfare for the Meghalaya government.
Lyndem had also served as a president of Ramakrishna Mission Secondary and higher secondary school in Sohra.
She is survived by her brother Reginald Lyndem, daughter Badalin Helvink, granddaughter Heather Helvink and son-in-law Joseph A Helvink. She moved to the United States in 2022.
Her body will be brought back to Shillong for the funeral, the date of which will be intimated late, the family said.
