In Memoriam: Suhas Krishnamurthy

Friends of the late Suhas Krishnamurthy describe him as a passionate writer, a caring friend and… Friends of the late Suhas Krishnamurthy describe him as a passionate writer, a caring friend and a successful Ph.D. student.

Krishnamurthy died on Oct. 7 in Pitt’s College Gardens apartments. Information on the cause of his death is pending results from an autopsy.

The former Pitt graduate student’s family flew his body to India, where he was cremated in line with Hindu tradition.

A native of Bangalore, India, Krishnamurthy lived in Pittsburgh for the past four years. His parents and older brother currently reside in India.

Graduate students Madhav Sankunny and Sandeep Prakasam both knew Krishnamurthy for the four years that he spent working on his doctorate in the Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Human Genetics.

They described Krishnamurthy as a very sociable person who loved to converse with people.

“He was very outgoing and friendly, and more of a people-person who likes to chat with people, especially old friends,” Prakasam said.

They and other friends of Krishnamurthy held a memorial for their peer in the William Pitt Union on Oct. 9.

Krishnamurthy was involved in organizations through the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Monroeville.

“His parents and his family are religious. He still did a lot of activities in relation to the temple,” Sankunny said. “He was involved with the different organizations that were associated with the temple.”

One was the Karnataka group, which organized plays and drama in Kannada, a language spoken in India.

Krishnamurthy was a successful student who was close to achieving his Ph.D. His adviser, Candace Kammerer, said that Krishnamurthy devoted himself to his schoolwork. He was preparing to do his comprehensive exam, in which he would write his Ph.D. research proposal.

“Suhas was very friendly,” Kammerer said. “I wouldn’t call him ‘quiet-quiet.’ I mean, he would speak, but he wasn’t an extroverted, boisterous person. But still he would talk. He had some nice insights in how genetics could be applied.”

Friends said that Krishnamurthy was an avid writer, and he loved to blog and be a part of social networking.

“I will always remember Suhas by the fact that he was an excellent writer, even though I didn’t agree with some of the topics he wrote about,”

Sankunny said jokingly, referring to some of Krishnamurthy’s writing about his research. “As a graduate student, to find time to do something other than your research or your academic work is pretty impressive.”

Krishnamurthy’s friends agreed that his caring attitude toward others was a distinguishing feature.

“In his head he was always concerned more about everyone else’s happiness,” Sankunny said. “Even if he was stressed, he would never show that. He always had a smile on his face. He was always there for his friends to help them cope with any situation that they had.”