Doyen of Indo-Anglican poets Nissim Ezekiel died in Mumbai on Friday night. He was 79.

Ezekiel, a former professor of English, had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the past couple of years.

Besides being India's foremost poet writing in English,  he had encouraged many who later made a name for themselves as leading poets, including Dom Moraes.

He was editor of PEN journal and on the editorial boards of the Bombay English Association Magazine, Poetry India and Quest.

Ezekiel's first collection 'Time to Change' was published in 1952.

Born in a Jewish family, he was educated in Mumbai and had translated many works into Marathi.

Ezekiel had received several awards and was presented with the Sahitya Akademi award in 1983 and Padmashri in 1988.