Pradip Ranjan Sarbadhikari
| Pradip Ranjan Sarbadhikari | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1938-05-04 Calcutta, India |
| Died | 2020-06-07 |
| Occupation | professor of political science |
| Employer | Lakehead University |
| Children | |
Pradip Ranjan Sarbadhikari (4 May 1938 – 7 June 2020 (aged 82)) was a Bengali-born political scientist who was among the first professors to teach at Lakehead University when it opened in 1964, and who taught there until he retired in 1999.[1]
Education and early career
Sarbadhikari was born on 4 May 1938 in Calcutta into a prominent Bengali family. He attended St. Xavier's and then Presidency College in Calcutta, and at about 20 went to London to study at the London School of Economics, earning master's degrees in political science and economics. He completed a PhD in political science at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, then taught at Presidency College in Calcutta for a couple of years in the early 1960s.[1]
In the mid-1950s he and his future wife, a student from Madrid, were standing next to each other in a receiving line of foreign students at a garden party given by Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace; the Queen, speaking to each in turn about the literary traditions of their homelands, introduced the two young people. They married a few years later and were together for 58 years.[1]
Lakehead University
When Lakehead University was about to open, its founding professors recruited abroad, and Sarbadhikari was offered a position. He arrived in Thunder Bay in 1964 for the first term, with his wife and daughter Paloma joining him a few months later. He taught at Lakehead from the first day of classes until his retirement in 1999, about 35 years. His son Probir, who wrote the tribute reproduced on the retirees' site, recalled that he loved his students, whom he called his "other children", and that the family often hosted students and visiting academics for dinner. His wife taught French for the Lakehead District School Board for about 30 years.[1]
After retirement the couple moved to Toronto, where he attended lectures at the University of Toronto and enjoyed his grandchildren.[1]
Family and death
Probir was born in Port Arthur on 1 July 1967 and his brother Prodpto was born in Thunder Bay in 1970; their sister Paloma had been born in Calcutta. In 1976 the family drove to Florida, stopping at universities and, in Plains, Georgia, meeting President Jimmy Carter. Sarbadhikari was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about a dozen years before his death, and died on 7 June 2020.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Entry for Pradip Ranjan Sarbadhikari, "In Memoriam", Retirees' Association of Lakehead University, https://www.lakeheadretirees.ca/in-memoriam/ (accessed 31 October 2026). Archived copy on datum.locker.