Chirayath Madhavan Suchindran

Dr. C.M. Suchindran (Suchi) was born on May 11, 1942 in Kochi, India. He grew up with seven siblings. He studied Mathematics (B.Sc) and Statistics (M.Sc) at the University of Kerala in Trivandrum. In 1967, he was awarded a Ford Foundation scholarship to pursue his doctorate at the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill under the mentorship of Dr. Mindel Sheps. After graduating he joined the faculty at UNC on September 1, 1972. He married Hamsa Unnithan on December 14, 1974, and they had two sons, Sunil and Sujit. Some years later two daughters-in-law, Lipi and Deepti, joined his family.

Suchi spent 46 years on the faculty at UNC. During this time, he carried out methodological work and applied research in diverse areas, became a tenured Professor, taught several courses including Demographic Techniques co-taught with Dr. Richard Bilsborrow, authored a textbook with Dr. Krishnan Namboodiri, maintained an NIH-funded training grant for 25 years, supervised many students, traveled the world for work, and was elected fellow of the American Statistical Association. Among his professional contributions, one that he felt the most passionate about was guiding students to pursue their academic dreams. He served as Director of Graduate Admissions for the Department of Biostatistics for many years. He worked tirelessly with Veronica Stallings, Melissa Hobgood, and others to support students, find funding sources, and guide students of diverse and underrepresented backgrounds through their career paths. He mentored students, younger and older, from many states and dozens of countries.

Suchi had many interests outside of work. He loved UNC basketball. He enjoyed all sports and would cheer especially hard for all UNC sports and professional teams with UNC alumni. He also loved music and singing, especially Malayalam music. His passion for teaching extended beyond Biostatistics. He taught the Malayalam language to elementary school children for many years.

He had a positive outlook on life, even during hardship, and enjoyed the company of students, colleagues, and friends. He was a loving and dedicated family man: a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He was a proud grandfather to Lila, Akshay, and Arya. He enjoyed close relations with multiple generations of a large family and many friends across the globe. May we all live a life as fulfilling as his.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.BrownWynneCary.com for the Suchindran family.