Atiq Ahmad Syed

Brownsville, Texas - Ahmad Atiq Syed 85, Dr. Atiq Ahmad Syed was born on September 21, 1939, near Sadiq Abad, Pakistan and died peacefully at his home in Brownsville, Texas on August 19, 2025.

His wife, two children, and five grandchildren knew him as "Dear," "Dad," "Papa Atiq," or "Papa." Behind these endearing nicknames, Atiq lived an improbable, varied, rich, and multinational life.

The first of his parents' five children, Atiq was born in Pehowa, India and grew up in Sadiq Abad, a rural town that became part of Pakistan after the 1947 partition from India. Atiq held deep respect for the expectations placed on eldest sons in Muslim families. Still, he felt an unexplained, gravitational pull to leave his home country and follow his mother's instruction: "You must get a good education, because then you will become a great man."

Like any good child, Atiq obeyed his mother. He became the first in his extended family to earn a two-year college degree, then received bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics and physics in 1961 from the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan. After those transformative years, he was awarded a United Nations fellowship in 1964 and used it to study earthquakes in Tokyo, Japan. The following year, with just $14 in his pocket, Atiq arrived in America to pursue a Ph.D. in Geophysics from Saint Louis University.

At a campus party for international students, he met Gladys Coronel, a young schoolteacher from Quito, Ecuador. A native Urdu speaker, he proceeded to talk her ear off in English for hours. Only later did he realize she didn't understand a word he said. Undeterred, he promised to teach her English. That promise led to their wedding in 1968.

After completing his Ph.D. in 1971, he worked as a geophysicist for Gulf Oil and Chevron, a career that took him and his family around the world and the United States. His daughter, Giovanna, was born in Algiers, Algeria. They then lived briefly in Houston, Texas before moving to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his son, Omar, was born. They lived in Midland, Texas for many years before settling in Brownsville in 1987.

Once in the Valley, Atiq became a professor of math and physics at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen as well as a lecturer in math for the University of Texas at Brownsville. He loved TSTC, teaching there for 30 years before retiring in 2017. While at TSTC, Atiq served as the chair of the Physics Department, and developed several new math courses that allowed local students to more easily earn transfer credits closer to home. He especially enjoyed running into his students years later and learning about their many successes.

Above all, Atiq was a gentle, cerebral, occasionally goofy husband, father, and grandfather whose life leaves generations of his family a compelling example of how tolerance, education, devotion to God, and perseverance can fulfill them and the people they love and serve. He is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Gladys Syed of Brownsville; his daughter Giovanna (Alexander) Cavallo of Chicago; his son Omar Syed (Meghan Riley) of Houston; his grandchildren Allison, Natalie, and Nicholas Cavallo and Sofia and Gabriel Syed; his brother Shabbir Syed and sister Farzana Syed of Sadiq Abad, Pakistan; and his niece Rabia (Korgun) Maral of New York City.

After a prayer service at the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, Atiq was laid to rest outside Houston on August 20, 2025. Memorial donations may be made to the Islamic Society of Brownsville, 246 Gilson Rd., Brownsville, TX 78520, or the food pantry at Mary, Mother of Church (St. Mary's), 1914 Barnard Rd., Brownsville, TX 78520, where he often volunteered.