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RAJAN SEKARAN Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for RAJAN SEKARAN
M Nickels
May 26, 2025
Dear Anna,
I´m so sorry that you and your sons are deeply grieving. Having lost my husband and now son Sam, it can be unbearable. Hold on to each other, stay strong. I think you you often. Mindy
Anna
May 21, 2025
You´ve been gone 5 years today. While life is moving forward, my heart hurts knowing that you are missing this. You would be so proud of the boys
Anna
May 26, 2024
You have been gone four years now. Found this picture of us in a dusty old box. Miss you like crazy
Grief, I´ve learned, is really just love.
It´s all the love you want to give, but cannot.
All that unspent love gathers up
in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest:
Grief is just love with no place to go.
~ J. Anderson
Anna
June 23, 2023
Happy 23rd Anniversary babe. I miss you to the moon and back.
Russell H
June 5, 2023
Russell H
June 5, 2023
Russell H
June 5, 2023
Russell H
June 5, 2023
I am so sad to hear about Raj. We have been out of touch for years but I think of him often. A really great friend and amazing person. Enjoyed time spent in NYC out with him in late eighties early - nineties - when NY was still NY. I love the post below that mentions how his whole body shook when he laughed, which he did often. His positivity, and curiosity about other people was real. Great conversations about history, Marvel and DC comics, mythology, art, economics, world cultures, Beatles songs, football (Redskins), - wonderful. And Rajan clear mind about what was real and what was bs. Went on road trip out west with him - great to travel with! Would play word games to pass the long hours on the longer drives. Laughed a lot and saw some timeless places. Always great to share seeing the beauty and craziness of the world with him. He will be missed greatly. I am heartened to think his energy and spirit will continue with his family. I send my love to them.
Anna
January 23, 2023
Happy birthday my sweet love - you would have been 62 today. You had such a wonderful smile...
Anna
May 26, 2022
Anna
May 26, 2022
Anna
May 26, 2022
Anna
May 26, 2022
We miss you so very much my love. The boys have so much of you in their hearts! Thank you for watching over us.
Melinda (Mindy) Nickels
September 5, 2021
Dearest Anna,
I am so very sorry to read of the tragic loss of your beloved husband. I want you to know you have always been and will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Take Care,
Mindy
Calla C Jo
June 11, 2021
A year after. . . the memory that keeps returning to me is the way his shoulders bounced up and down when he laughed. He had a great laugh and he laughed often.
Dan Powers
January 22, 2021
I was in junior high and high school with Rajan. I remember we played a lot of basketball and enjoyed doing impressions of our jr high social studies teacher. We didn't really keep in touch after high school but I remember him as a good friend. My condolences to the family.
Calla Cumi Jo
January 5, 2021
I am heartbroken to hear about Rajan. My deepest condolences to Anna and the boys. Rajan was a dear friend in the pre Anna days in New York. His friend John The Camerman was close to my college roommate Katherine. Rajan was not only brilliant, interested, and fun. He was my only non dancer friend from those years who took 2 hours out of his day to come watch an entire Merce Cunningham class at Westbeth because he wanted to see this technique that I had become engrossed with for himself. He was a great friend and I am sad that we weren't closer as we raised our children.
Joel Wittenberg
July 12, 2020
Rajan was an incredible friend and brother to me starting around 1992. I could go on about Rajan's incredible intellect. His knowledge was second to none. I could talk about his ability to understand the financial markets and analyze what was going on at any point and design a strategy. I could also talk about his grasp of politics where we agreed on pretty much everything. No topic was off limits. We could talk about something for 10 minutes or 3 hours. On the phone or over dinner.
When you meet someone with that much brain power, the story pretty much begins and ends there. But not with Rajan. What Rajan had more than his intelligence was a warm, loving and affectionate side. His smile and laugh were infectious. He talked so much about Anna and the boys. He was so proud of all three of them and it came out all the time. Anna's career and recent move, Doran's college choices and first year at Columbia and Janaks summer at the University of Michigan studying race and equity.
He had that same amount of love and enthusiasm for me as well. There was no one more excited about what me and my family were doing. Our energy fed off of each other. While he was incredibly humble, often when we strategized something in the markets together, we would then celebrate and spend time telling each other how smart we were!
I miss his smile, his texts, calls and of course our conversations. I will cherish them always.
Anna
June 26, 2020
I have been going through all of our pictures this is my favorite of you solo. I miss you so very much my love.
Bryan Meek
June 24, 2020
Words can't describe the loss I feel right now only having found out about this tonight. My deepest condolences to Raj's family. Raj was such a positive force in my life over the years with his friendship and candor. I am numb seeing this and heartbroken for his family. Raj was always so keen to share his boys mastery of science and math while dishing it out with me over his Redskins and my Giants on much more trivial matters. I know in my heart my late father, who was a huge fan of Raj's, has welcomed him into the afterlife with love. God bless you all in this tough time.
Anna
June 23, 2020
Happy 20th Anniversary my love. Thank you for absolutely everything. I miss you to the moon and back
Michael Irgang
June 12, 2020
I met Rajan in 1995 when I worked in the McDonald's Corporation Treasury department and was a client of Rajan's. Rajan's friendliness and engaging personality were very noticeable. What began as a client/investment banker relationship became and enduring friendship very quickly. Rajan was not only gifted in his intellect, but he had a unique ability to explain complex concepts in easily understandable terms. Rajan's explanation of the Theory of Relativity would put Einstein to Shame.
In 1997, I called Rajan to say I was coming to NY that night and ask if we could get together. He quickly pointed out that the Bulls were in town that evening and that I should go straight to the Garden...he would find a way to get tickets for this key rivalry. We met that night and were enjoying a great game. The Knicks were up by 9 points going into the 4th quarter so I made Rajan an wager; if the Bulls lose dinner is on me and if the Knick lose dinner is on him. I really just wanted to thank him profusely for getting the tickets, but at the same time make things interesting. Well low and behold if Michael Jordan and the Bulls covered the 9 points and won the game. As we were walking out of the Garden, he looked up at me with a grin I will never forgot and said, "Now that I think about it, that was a sucker bet!"
I spoke to Rajan over the years and always enjoyed his perspective on business and life. The news of his passing was a complete shock. I will miss Rahan dearly.
I offer my condolences to Anna and the rest of Rajan's family.
Nell Uhry Burdett
June 11, 2020
Rajan was inarguably a brilliant and remarkable human being. He attained unimaginable success in his education, his career, and, to my knowledge, everything he set out to accomplish. That was an important, essential aspect of who he was. But he was so much more than all of his achievements.
He had an effortless gift for connecting with so many, and such vastly different people. He had a genuinely open heart and generosity of spirit that He possessed an extraordinarily thoughtful view of the world that seemed to manifest in his commitment and support for social values, and for the people whose voice was most underrepresented . Both Rajan and Anna shared a strong sense of social responsibility and values that they so clearly instilled in their children. Those are what will continue to serve as a part of the beautiful legacy Rajan left Doran and Janak.
I had the good fortune to have known Rajan for over 15 years. In many ways, our families grew up together, and we often spoke about navigating parenthood. Rajan was a phenomenal source of support and wisdom, and helped guide me through the difficult, daunting aspects of being a parent. He was consistently supportive, and patiently listened to me as I worked through the things I held most significant. More importantly, he acted as a trusted advisor, teacher and advocate for both of them.
- [ ] It is difficult to express the enormous sense of loss we are experiencing . He was a constant figure in our lives, and the space that he filled is impossible to replace. Rajan liked to tease me about my penchant for burying the lead when recounting various events to him. He was right. Because as trite as it may sound; I think the part I loved most about being Rajans friend was his humor. Our laughter was always loud and always and From tiniest to most enormous things; we seemed to find a way to see the humor in it. In a world that sometimes felt very dark and frightening, Raj provided me the luxury of levity and escape when things seemed all consuming and overwhelming. I truly hope I was able to have reciprocated this to him, if even in smallest percentage.
- [ ] In his absence, I am struck with by the realization of how much he made me believe in myself. He never shied away from a response when I solicited his opinion. He gave frank and honest opinions, when he felt it would be benificial. He also demonstrated great integrity and wisdom for crossing lines of privacy. The big things were what initially drawled me towards him, but in the end, I realize it was all the seemingly small, details he was made of that I will forever miss and left its impact on me.
Alison Scherer
June 4, 2020
The same summer weekend in Nantucket in 2019. Although I can share more specific memories in another post, Rajan was always exceptionally kind to and thoughtful regarding Anna's friends. He always made you feel welcome and included and here I am the lucky one sitting next to him at dinner!
Alison Scherer
June 4, 2020
I think this is Summer 1999 when Anna and Rajan joined my family and some other friends in Nantucket. Their intelligence and sense of humor added immeasurably to our group -- but no surprise there from these two!
Casey Shedd
June 3, 2020
Rajans influence on my life was out sized relative to the time we spent together. I mostly admired his humility, charm, knowledge, and approach to life from a distance. In hearing glowing stories about the family passed along from my brother Cody or my aunt Carol.
More than anything, I admired Rajan as a father. The man Rajan was is so clearly reflected in the men that both Doran and Janak have become. In them he leaves the legacy of an extremely special blend of human. True artists and permanent learners, with a desire to compete that is appropriately tempered with compassion. Leaving a conversation with Doran, Janak and Rajan always left me with 2 feelings: that their IQs were double that of my own and that they had no desire to make me aware of that fact. There is a sincere focus on listening and understanding.
In looking at the outsized impact you had on my own life from a distance, I know that you must hold a truly special place in the hearts of so many people that were close to you. You unknowingly imparted a lot of wisdom onto my own life, most importantly on how I can strive to be a balanced and involved father. Thank you Raj for footprint you left on this earth.
Simone Taylor
June 2, 2020
I know that even though you have a loss, you still have some great memories. I hope those memories will give you comfort in knowing God is with you and your family lean on him in your time of sorrow.
Shivakumar Raman
June 2, 2020
Ever so simple, and not ever flashy (he never wore name brand clothing, nor posed for photographs), he was great at making people feel great. He groomed me in a sense, by regaling me about existentialism, literature, and museums.
We endured a major train accident while we were traveling together in the late eighties. We were separated for an hour after the accident. So many died in that crash. We were both tense as we watched bodies being pulled out of the train. When we saw each other after we had been rescued, we both hugged for several minutes. A stronger bonding was forged that day, much stronger than ever before. I visited him often in NYC when he worked there, and hung out at his apartment in Battery Park City. We used to walk for miles together exploring the Manhattan wilderness (his coinage), checking out art and museums. He was outstanding at finding outstanding hole-in-the-wall places in NYC that we often ate at.
Rajan was always very much into family. Right from the first vacation break I spent with him in December 1983 at the house of his parents (my maternal uncle and aunt), Rajan always treated me like his little brother. We discussed and argued about basketball, football, and rock and roll, and I always came out learning something new after every discussion with him. He invited me to be the best man at his wedding, and gave me the honor of giving the toast on behalf of the Thyagarajan family. He has been a rock of support for me through various challenges in my life. We talked for hours on phone whenever we connected.
Rest in peace, my brother! I am so proud that I am your family!
Sylaja Srinivasan
June 2, 2020
Beloved son, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle to us and so much more. From childhood to adulthood, always warm, funny, intelligent, living in the moment, fiercely concerned with the world around him, and loving . We are so lucky to have him as family and will hold him in our hearts forever.
Sylaja Srinivasan
June 2, 2020
We will love and miss Rajan forever. He was son, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle for all us but so much more than that. From childhood to adulthood, he was warm, funny, intelligent, living in the moment, and loving. We were so lucky to have him in our family and will hold him in our hearts forever.
Anna
June 2, 2020
Taken at our wedding June 23-24, 2000
Showing 1 - 32 of 32 results
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