Leading Sri Lankan economist Saman Kelegama, who was highly regarded in South Asian policy circles, passed away in Thailand on Friday. He was 58.

Dr. Kelegama was in Bangkok on work, and was found dead in his hotel room, local media reports said.

A trade policy expert, he served as the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka for over two decades, and advised successive governments on key economic matters. He co-edited the South Asia Economic Journal published by Sage.

Dr. Kelegama is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where he completed a master’s degree in Mathematics. He later obtained his doctorate in Economics from Oxford University.