Ķīlis was a well-known academic in the field of social anthropology before becoming Minister of Education and Science from October 2011 to April 2013. He was aged 54 and for the past three years had suffered health problems.
Ķīlis graduated with honors from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the University of Latvia, and received a doctorate in philosophy from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. He had been an associate professor at the Riga Graduate School of Economics for many years.
Our condolences to his friends and family.