Jason Arday, who became the University of Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, died at the age of 41, his family confirmed Friday. His death came shortly after he resigned from Cambridge amid a controversy involving allegations of plagiarism and questions over some claims in his personal story.

Arday had built an academic career focused on race and education, working at Roehampton, Glasgow and Durham universities before taking up an established chair of education at Cambridge’s Jesus College.

The controversy began last month after a blog post accused Arday of plagiarizing portions of his dissertation and exaggerating aspects of his personal story. The post was written by Nathan Cofnas, who describes himself as a “race realist” and was dismissed by Cambridge’s Emmanuel College in 2024.

The Telegraph reported that an analysis found more than 100 passages in Arday’s PhD that were similar to another thesis by Brunel University student Paula Zwozdiak-Myers, published six years earlier.

Critics also questioned claims Arday had made about his charity work and endurance runs. He said he had raised £5 million for charity and completed a 600-mile run in six days. According to The Guardian, two universities that had awarded him honorary degrees later changed information on their websites about those claims, with one changing “six days” to “12 days.”

Arday had also said he experienced years of racist abuse and threats, including receiving a bullet in the post and a severed pig’s head at his family home. However, local butchers and the Metropolitan Police did not confirm parts of his account. Police said details provided by Arday were “categorically” incorrect and that no investigation had taken place.

Cambridge initially defended Arday, calling the plagiarism allegations a “vile smear campaign.” The university later said it would conduct an independent investigation into his hiring.

Arday resigned from Cambridge the previous week, shortly before his memoir was due to be published.

According to The New York Times, London’s Metropolitan Police said an ambulance was called Friday afternoon to a South London residence connected to Arday after a man was found unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police did not confirm his identity and said the death was being treated as unexpected but was not believed to be suspicious.

Arday’s family said he had been subjected to a “campaign of sustained abuse” since joining Cambridge and described the campaign of misinformation as too much for him. They said they were “in shock” after losing the father, partner, brother, uncle and son.