Kolkata: Film maestro Satyajit Ray’s widow Bijoya Ray, a lifelong inspiration for the master, died at a private nursing home here on Tuesday following an acute pneumonia attack, a nursing home spokesman said.

Bijoya Ray, 98, left behind her filmmaker son Sandip, daughter-in-law Lalita and grandson Souradeep.

‘She was admitted to our nursing home on Saturday noon following an acute pneumonia attack. She was under the treatment of physician Swapan Pal. She passed away at 6.06pm,’ Belle Vue Clinic chief executive officer P Tondon told IANS.

She had been put on ventilator support as her conditioned worsened after admission.

Bijoya Ray was born Bijoya Das to Charu Chandra Das, a barrister and Madhuri Devi, younger sister of nationalist leader ‘Deshbandhu’ CR Das’s wife Basanti Devi.

A gifted Rabindra Sangeet singer, who also acted in some films, Bijoya married her first cousin Satyajit in 1949 after years of courtship.