Antony Patrick Sinnappa Selvadurai Docteur h.c., PhD, DSc, FRSC, FIMA, PEng, CMath

He leaves behind his wife of over 50 years, Sally, and his four children Emily (Damian), Paul (Stephanie), Mark (Anne) and Lizzie. His grandchildren, Tristan, Harper, Gabriel and Aria are left to mourn their beloved Opi. His brothers, Anton, Ben and Iggy and his sister, Antoinette, are heartbroken. Patrick’s sisters-in-law, Janet, Margot, Caryl and Paula (Rob), will miss his friendship and wicked sense of humour. The nephews and nieces from both sides of the family are deeply upset that their Uncle Patrick has left us. Patrick was predeceased by his parents, Kanapathiyar and Mary Adeline, his sisters Mary and Therese, and his brother, Joe.

In memory of Patrick and his incredible life, there will be a visitation (2pm to 4pm) and service (4pm to 5pm) at Collins, Clarke, MacGillivray White on Friday, August 11th, 2023. The Selvadurai Family wishes to extend invitations to anyone who would like to pay their respects and say their final goodbyes.

Patrick was an incredible contributor to society and his academic achievements were internationally acclaimed (listed in detail below), but foremost he was, above all, the consummate family man who delighted (for the most part) in the antics of his four children. He imparted to his family a love of art, opera, westerns and peculiar geological formations. Patrick was a fanatic about his exercise routine while simultaneously holding a deep appreciation for a good drop of wine, visiting vineyards around the world with Sally and their friends. His love of movies didn’t stop at the traditional classics like Dr Zhivago or The Great Escape, there was never a family car trip without audio cassettes of Monty Python movies, interspersed with pieces by Rossini as well as the iconic sounds of the Beatles.

Patrick’s most cherished moments in recent years were undoubtedly those he spent with his grandchildren. He never missed an opportunity for a cuddle, a laugh or hours spent building scale models. The joy in his face was tangible even through the screen during their frequent video calls; he was deeply adored and will be sorely missed by all of them. Patrick’s ability to impart knowledge and teach with passion didn’t stop at his children and grandchildren; his entire professional life was devoted to education and learning.

Patrick Selvadurai was William Scott Professor and Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, McGill University, Montréal, Canada. He received his undergraduate education in civil engineering at Brighton University, U.K., and pursued graduate studies in Soil Mechanics (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London University) and Applied Mechanics (Stanford University). In 1971 he obtained his PhD degree in Theoretical Mechanics from the University of Nottingham, under the tutelage of the world-renowned continuum mechanicist, the late A.J.M. Spencer FRS, for research in “Second-Order Elasticity Theory”. In 1986 the University of Nottingham awarded him its first ever research DSc in Theoretical Mechanics for research into Mathematical Modelling of Problems in Geomechanics and Elastomechanics.

Patrick first taught at the University of Aston in Birmingham, UK (1971-75) after which he joined the Department of Civil Engineering at Carleton University in 1975. In 1993 he moved to the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, McGill University. He had Visiting Professorships at the numerous Universities around the world, including the University of Nottingham, U.K; Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France; University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China; University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; The Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands; Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium and Pontificade Universita Catolica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Prof. Dr. Selvadurai received the Humboldt Senior Scientist Award (Germany), the Killam Research Fellowship (Canada Council for the Arts), the Inaugural John Booker Medal (International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics), the prestigious Max Planck Research Prize in the Engineering Sciences (Max Planck Gesellschaft, Germany), The Killam Prize for Engineering , awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the CANCAM Gold Medal, awarded by the Central Committee for Canadian Congresses of Applied Mechanics. In 2008, he received the IACMAG Medal for Outstanding Accomplishments in Theoretical, Computational and Experimental Geomechanics and in 2010 the ALERT Medal, awarded by Alliance of Laboratories in Europe for Research and Technology. In 2012, he was awarded the degree of Docteur Honoris Causa by the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, France. He was also received The Eric Reissner Medal of the International Conference on Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences, The Maurice A. Biot Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Engineering Mechanics Institute and the Chandra S. Desai Medal of IACMAG.

Dr. Selvadurai was a world leader in continuum mechanics, theoretical, computational and experimental geomechanics and applied mathematics. His research in these areas has profoundly influenced engineering activities related to nuclear waste management, soil-structure interaction and northern geomechanics associated with offshore structures and buried pipelines, and environmental geomechanics.

He published extensively in archival journals (338 Papers; http://www.mcgill.ca/civil/people/selvadurai/list-research-publications) devoted to applied mechanics, geomechanics, solid mechanics, applied mathematics, computational mechanics and experimental mechanics. He authored or co-authored texts devoted to Elastic Analysis of Soil-Foundation Interaction (Elsevier, 1979), Elasticity and Geomechanics (with R.O. Davis) (Cambridge University Press, 1996), Partial Differential Equations in Mechanics Vols. 1&2 (Springer-Verlag, 2000); Plasticity and Geomechanics (with R.O. Davis) (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Transport in Porous Media (with Y. Ichikawa) (Springer-Verlag, 2012) and Thermo-Poroelasticity and Geomechanics (with A.P. Suvorov) (Cambridge University Press, 2016). He edited or co-edited 11 books and 8 Special Issues of International Journals with peer review, devoted to nuclear waste disposal, environmental geomechanics, mathematics and mechanics of granular media, theoretical solid mechanics and computational contact mechanics. He served on the Editorial Boards of nine leading International Journals devoted to Geomechanics, Applied Mechanics, Computational Mechanics and Engineering Mathematics. He was a Fellow of: The Royal Society of Canada, The Canadian Academy of Engineering, The Engineering Institute of Canada, The American Academy of Mechanics, The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and The Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (UK). He was a Professional Engineer as well as a Chartered Mathematician.

His awards, books, scientific papers, conferences, and innumerable keynote lectures are simply the support beams of the legacy that Patrick will leave behind. He had many times expressed a wish to contribute to university students in underprivileged regions. We are in the process of setting up a foundation to achieve this final wish and will update this website when a donation page becomes available.

Alternatively, you can email your interest to contribute to [email protected] and we will keep you informed on the establishment of the foundation.

Collins Clarke MacGillivray White will webcast the funeral ceremony of Antony Patrick Selvadurai on Friday, August 11, 2023 from 3:50 PM EDT to 5:15 PM EDT.

You can view the ceremony live or on replay at: https://funeraweb.tv/en/diffusions/77977