Black academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week following a high-profile plagiarism scandal that raised claims of racism, was found dead Friday, the prestigious British institution confirmed.
Arday, 41, was found unresponsive Friday afternoon at an address in south London, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service, which did not confirm the identity of the deceased person at the time of discovery.
“We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cambridge University’s top administrator, Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice, said in a brief statement.
Arday’s family criticised what they called a “campaign of harassment” that followed allegations about his academic work and personal life.
“The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone,” the family said in a statement released through his publisher Simon & Schuster.
