Teuku Iskandar was born on 14 October 1924 and died on 5 September 2012. He graduated from Leiden University (1950) and earned his doctorate there (1955) with a thesis on the Hikayat Aceh. He helped establish Syiah Kuala University (1961), taught for 13 years in Malaysia including at the University of Malaya, compiled the Kamus Dewan at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, became professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam and later professor of Acehnese and Malay literature at Leiden. His works include De Hikayat Atjeh (1959), Kamus Dewan (1970) and a Catalogue of Acehnese Manuscripts (1994, with P. Voorhoeve).