KUALA LUMPUR: National Cancer Council (Makna) founder Datuk Mohd Farid Ariffin died yesterday afternoon. He was 84.
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The news of his passing was confirmed by his daughter, Farahida Mohd Farid, who said he died at 5.38pm.
“The family is making funeral arrangements this morning,” she said.
The remains of the Kuala Nerang native will be bathed and funeral prayers held at the Kariah Labu Hilir Mosque in Negri Sembilan at 10am today, followed by burial at 11am.
A lawyer by profession, Mohd Farid founded the legal firm Farid Ariffin & Associates and was also active in politics.
He served as deputy finance minister and deputy health minister between 1987 and 1995.
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He founded Makna in 1994 to raise public awareness of cancer and to provide financial, emotional and educational support to cancer patients, particularly those from underprivileged backgrounds.
The initiative was inspired by his personal experience caring for his son, who battled leukaemia, which led him to realise that many patients were unable to afford continued life-saving treatment.
Born in Kedah, Mohd Farid received his early education in Alor Setar, Baling and Kulim.
He obtained a diploma in education from the Language Institute in Kuala Lumpur in 1963 before earning a Bachelor of Social Sciences from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1973. He later read law at Lincoln’s Inn in London.
-NST