Mosur Sundaresan

Mosur Sundaresan September 2, 1929 - January 30, 2017. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Mosur K. Sundaresan, at the age of 87, on January 30, 2017, after a sudden and catastrophic illness while visiting family in Phoenix. "Sundar", as he was known to colleagues and close friends, was beloved husband of Bharathy; loving father of Sudhir (Glenys) and Sujata (Arun); and cherished grandfather of Jay (Kerianne), Alex, Meera and Daniel Sundaresan and Jay, Amanda and Selena Ryan.

Born, educated [and later married] in India, he launched his career in Theoretical Physics as a PhD student of Hans Bethe at Cornell. His illustrious career in physics started at the NRC in 1957 then spanned from 1961 to 1994 at Carleton University [serving 3 terms as Department Chair], where he was largely responsible for the development of the Carleton Physics Department as one of the foremost particle physics research groups in Canada. His visionary and collaborative approach led to the formation of the Centre for Research in Particle Physics. Experimental work of this group, extending to the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, involved calculations on the Higgs Boson and culminated later in the Nobel prize for Higgs and Englert in 2015.

Upon retirement in 1994 he was appointed Distinguished Research Professor at Carleton and remained active in research and teaching, both there and in his native India. He and Bharathy affirmed their faith in their Spiritual Master (Bhagawan Sri Satya Sai Baba) and in this regard spent winters in Puttaparthi, India for 2 decades. He served as Visiting Professor and taught vigorously at the Sri Satya Sai Institute for Higher Learning; and Consultant at the SSS Super Specialty Hospital, where he collaborated to develop many valuable and innovative medical programs.

Sundar will be remembered as an exceptional scientist and a role model to his students and young faculty colleagues, with whom he was truly generous with his time, energy and knowledge. He was perpetually encouraging [always with a smile] and inspirational, exemplified by conducting teaching sessions via Skype from Ottawa to India in recent years, when advancing age made travel more burdensome.

Above all, Sundar was an exceptional humanist, a kind and caring man, a loyal and patriotic Canadian and the epitome of humility in spite of all of his achievements. He always had a quick smile, hearty laughter and readiness to help anyone who needed it, and lived his life guided by love and devotion to his family and Spiritual Master. He is missed terribly by all of us.