Dhaka, Oct. 24 -- The newsroom was filled with familiar faces, conversations and memories. Former and current colleagues gathered to mark the journey of Bangladesh's first internet-based news publisher, as they had done at anniversaries in the past. But this time, one person was missing -- the man around whom so many of those gatherings had revolved.

Toufique Imrose Khalidi.

The preparations for a grand celebration at a five-star hotel had been under way when the pioneer of online journalism in Bangladesh died, just weeks before the milestone. The planned festivities became a memorial inside the newsroom.

On Friday, marking 20 years since bdnews24.com began its round-the-clock operation on Oct 23, 2006, colleagues spoke of Khalidi in f...