In remembrance of Surya Kompalli

Our beloved friend Suryaprakash Kompalli passed away on October 11 after a courageous battle with cancer. For those who knew him professionally, Surya was a gifted engineer, a prolific scholar, and a teacher/professor with an unwavering dedication to his work and his students. For us friends, he was simply an extraordinary human being. Selflessness, compassion, integrity, and modesty are the virtues that defined him.

Most of us came to know Surya during our graduate education (around 2003-2005) at the University at Buffalo. One could immediately tell that this guy had a quirky yet groundbreaking outlook on life (for someone in his mid-20s). He had an out-of-the-box zest for life with an eagerness to solve existential problems. For perspective, a weekend afterparty with Surya will stretch into the wee hours with passionate debates on politics, climate change, food shortage, socio-economic disparities(….you name it), leaving us all with an eye-opening hangover in the morning. And let us be clear- these were not mundane conversations for Surya. He put his words into action.

Surya was in many ways a grass root organizer with a relentless eagerness to give back to the community. As the founding member/president of the Association for India’s Development-Buffalo chapter, he organized multiple fundraising events, information campaigns and initiatives to support the underprivileged in India. And his newly married wife, Jyostna (Josu), was a pillar of support right from day one.

Following his Ph.D. in computer science in 2007, it was no surprise that Surya had no desire for a corporate-driven career in the US. Instead, he and Josu returned to his home country, India. He had a few stints with IT companies in India and taught at a regional university. Still, Surya’s full-time passion was working with NGOs, promoting K-12 education in India and Africa, teaching computer science in rural schools, and starting an organic farm in his village. By the way, let us also not forget that he trained hard and became a Captain in the Indian civilian army.

Surya and Josu have two delightful children, Srikruti (13) and Bharath (11). His favorite times with the kids were helping them with their homework, playing board games, and going long-distance biking. Following in their dad’s footsteps, kids took to watching classic Hindi movies and scientific documentaries with him.

Life took a detour for Surya when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2018. In the classic Surya way, he took the disease head-on and dealt with it on his terms from day one. Thanks to a continuing appointment, he was able to resettle in the US early this year as a faculty at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)-Africa Program and receive advanced therapy. With an unwavering and determined Josu by his side, he bravely fought through chemo and radiation while teaching full-time at CMU.

On October 11th, Surya left a lasting legacy of compassion and unconditional devotion to his family, friends, and community. He passed his love for life, simplicity, and strength to his kids. Let us pay tribute to an extraordinary son, husband, father, brother, friend, scientist, and community organizer. He did it all, being the sole provider to his family. This GoFundMe campaign has been set up exclusively to support the future education of Srikruthi and Bharath. Please generously contribute so we can reach our goal of $50,000.