Born in Sylhet in 1928, SM Ali was the eldest son of late Syed Mustafa Ali, an official of the Assam civil service. He was born to a noted Bengali literary family.

He was the nephew of famous writers Syed Mujtaba Ali and Syed Murtaja Ali.

SM Ali made his way up from a cub reporter to one of the country's most brilliant editors in a career spanning 44 years. He was also the chairman of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).

Educated in Calcutta, Dhaka and London SM Ali was one of the few Asian journalists who enriched regional journalism.

He started as a reporter with the Pakistan Observer during his student days at Dhaka University. He went on to hold important positions in various regional publications in Pakistan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

He joined the Press Foundation of Asia as its executive director in the 70s. In 1981, he became United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (Unesco) regional communication advisor for Asia and the Pacific which was based in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Ali returned to Bangladesh in 1989 and had a brief stint with The Bangladesh Observer as its editor. He launched The Daily Star in 1991 and worked tirelessly to establish this newspaper as a leading independent national daily till the day he flew to Bangkok for treatment. He died there in 1993 at the age of 65.