SM Ali was born in Sylhet in 1928. He 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 literatteur Syed Mujtaba Ali and Syed Murtaja Ali.

He died in 1993 in a Bangkok hospital at the age of 65.

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 former chairman of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).

He was educated in Calcutta, Dhaka and London.

SM Ali was one of the few Asian journalists who stood apart in 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 later joined the Press Foundation of Asia as its Executive Director in the 1970s. In 1981 he became the UNESCO's Regional Communication Advisor for Asia and the Pacific and 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 even until the day before his flight to Bangkok for treatment.