Suresh Krishna Sontakay

Born in Nagpur, India on August 12, 1937 to Krishna and Kamal Sontakay, Suresh spent his childhood with his parents and three siblings in New Delhi, India and received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Delhi University. He married his loving wife Ranjana Phansalkar in New Delhi on June 8, 1963. They lived in Kathmandu, Nepal and several cities in India, including Kanpur and Calcutta, before moving to the United States in 1979. In the U.S., they lived in Summit, New Jersey and moved to Charlotte in 1990.

Suresh worked for Hoechst in India and the U.S. for the majority of his career and ultimately retired from Clariant. He was committed to his area of specialty in product safety. Even after his retirement, Suresh continued to be sought for his expertise on a consultancy basis.

Suresh and Ranjana created a wonderful life for their family, the foundation of which was their enduring love and support for each other. In retirement, and until Ranjana passed away in 2017, they enjoyed traveling, tending to a beautiful rose garden, and spending time with their three beloved grandchildren. In more recent years, Suresh continued his passion for gardening, taking great pride in his gorgeous roses and vegetable bounty, shared his love of reading with family and friends, successfully experimented with cooking gourmet meals, and spent many an enjoyable hour challenging his grandchildren to highly competitive games of scrabble.

With a wonderful zest for life and adventure, Suresh brought his gift for storytelling to every gathering, quickly making lasting friendships. He will be missed deeply by his daughters Bhavana Boggs and Arati Randolph, their respective husbands J.C . and Joel, grandchildren Katherine Boggs and Emily and Jonathan Randolph, and extended family.

A celebration of Suresh’s life will be held later this year.