M. Kazim Bacchus was born in Queenstown in Essequibo, Guyana on October 11, 1929. He was the fourth of nine siblings. His father, George Bacchus, was a businessman who died when Kazim was eight. His mother, Jaitoon (later Ally), was a homemaker who had never attended school herself but supported Kazim’s educational pursuits.

Bacchus started his education career as a schoolteacher in Guyana. In 1951, he went to London to further his studies in education. He obtained the Professional Certificate of Education and Academic Diploma in Education from the Institute of Education, London University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from London School of Economics. He returned to Guyana in 1958 and worked at the Ministry of Health. In 1960, he went to the United States of America to pursue his Master’s degree in Public Health Education at Berkeley College, University of California. In 1963, he returned to Guyana and was appointed Assistant Director of Education. He returned to London in 1964 and obtained his Master’s degree in Social Psychology of Education and Ph.D in Education in 1968, both from London University. During his study at London University, he worked as a Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, at Kingston, Jamaica from 1965.

Dr. Bacchus joined the University of Alberta (U of A) in 1969. He was granted tenure as Associate Professor in 1971 and moved to full Professor in 1974. At the U of A, Bacchus founded the Centre for International Education and Development. He also served as Principal at the College of the Bahamas (1976-1978), and visiting scholar at University of Chicago, LSE, and University of London Institute of Education.

Throughout his career, Dr. Bacchus authored over one hundred works on education in developing countries. In 1992, he was awarded a Doctor of Literature degree (DLitt) by the University of London to recognize his work in the area of education in developing countries. Close to his retirement from the U of A, Dr. Bacchus became the Founding Director of the Institute of Education at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan in 1993.

Bacchus married Shamsun “Shamie” Nehar (nee Jabber) in 1951 and had three children: Nari, Zeeda, and Fahiem. Dr. Bacchus passed away on March 22, 2007 in Edmonton, Alberta from a lung-scarring disease. The U of A, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, has been endowed with the Bacchus Graduate Scholarship award for international and first-nation students.