Amyn, you were one class act. I will remember your frequently and always with a smile!

I always feel privileged to be a member of the Professor Teja's research group. He makes our graduate life so easy and accomplished. His humors in the meeting makes us feel ease all the time. Prof. Teja not only care for us but also our kids and family. This is a very rare privilege that we have enjoyed. 
 
It is heat wrenching to hear that Professor Teja is no longer with us. We have learned that he started playing tennis again while we meet him in our last gathering in Dec 2018 at his new lake front house. We will remember this event in the years to come.  As everybody says, I also always look forward to Professor Teja’s holiday greeting. 

May you rest in peace! My deepest sympathies and condolences to all the family members and friends of Professor Amyn Teja.


I graduated from Georgia Tech with a PhD in ChE under Dr. Teja's supervision in 1995. He was instrumental in shaping how I did research and applied that in my personal life as well. It took me a while to get used to his sense of humor and toward the end of my stay at Tech, I felt I connected with him. The one thing I felt proud about competing with him was that my handwriting was very close to his and I could actually write like him. He was an amazing teacher, mentor, friend and I cherish the memories of my graduate studies and my research work with him forever. I wish I shared my thoughts and how much he influenced my life after Georgia Tech with him. I looked forward to the annual letter he sent every year and now I will not receive them anymore. Dear Teja, You touched so many lives in such a meaningful and positive way. May you rest in peace and my sincere condolences to all the family members and friends. 

I graduated with Amyn in 1988. I have a story that displays vintage Amyn.
In 1986 my parents visited Atlanta. Even though my dad never finished high school he was extraordinarily adept with technical things, so I arranged for him to visit our lab at Georgia Tech and to have a talk with Amyn. The lab visit was a non stop gush of questions from my dad, that I had to translate, questions to me, to Amyn, to the research team members, “How do you clean the mercury?”, “Why are you interested in this specific pressure measurement?” they came thick and fast, about everything. Amyn made sure that all questions were answered, he took great care to explain simply the purpose of all this. His answers were simple at first, then he adjusted their complexity as he found that my dad’s understanding seemed to have depth. Amyn clearly enjoyed my dad’s curiosity. Then, in his office, Amyn had lined up on his desk the publications I had with him, the glossy version. My dad saw his name on all these papers in a language that he could not read, more questions, more measured, to the point answers from Amyn. Patient, kind, thoughtful of the other’s position. 
After an hour with Amyn my dad shot “you know Sir, in Europe someone like you would never take the time to talk to someone like me, what you do is complicated and you make me feel like I can understand it, you don’t behave like an ivory tower”.
And Amyn shot back: “well, I am an ebony tower”
Amyn made my dad feel respected, strong, he made him laugh, he made him cry with emotion in the car as I drove him back.
Amyn thought that the knowledge his intelligence let him acquire was, above all, to be gifted to people around him. For him it was not enough to discover, it had to be shared, others needed to feel empowered in the process.
A sublime mixture of intelligence and generosity.
Amyn I am so so sooo happy to be one of those you touched with your grace!
Rest in Peace my friend.


Amyn was my PhD graduate school advisor.  He was quite simply a very special person.  And not because he was one of the world’s best thermodynamists (which he was), but because of his character.  I actually decided this the first time that I met him.  It was during my first visit to the Georgia Tech on a campus visit to help decide which school that I would attend for graduate studies.  During my visit, the school arranged for me to meet with Amyn who spent about 30 minutes with me discussing the school and his research activities.  After that 30 minutes, I decided that I would attend Georgia Tech and wanted to work under Amyn.   
In my ensuing years at Georgia Tech, my initial opinion of Amyn’s character only increased.  I cherish the time that I spent at Georgia Tech working in Amyn’s Thermo Group.  I always enjoyed his company with his down to earth nature, humor, & smile.  Time spent both celebrating and commiserating Georgia Tech’s football and basketball seasons, watching Superbowl parties at his house, and many more activities.  He was a genuinely kind soul – liked and respected by all.
As his former students will attest, Amyn was a fantastic advisor and mentor.  He had a very patient, deliberate approach of letting students learn and figure-out things for themselves (best manner for learning), yet always being available for advice and help when needed.  Always encouraging.  I have gone on to have a successful professional career - respected in my field and involved in developing many commercial products.  In no small part, due to the influence from Amyn.  To this day after more than 25 years, I still spend considerable time working in the lab on product development - utilizing skills that I first learned in Amyn’s group.  A similar story of Amyn’s impact is told by my 50+ colleagues that are former graduate students of Amyn.
I thank Amyn and Carole for welcoming me into their lives.  My deepest sympathies to Carole, Kemira, Adam, and Amyn’s grandchildren.

One of the very lucky moments in my life was when Dr Teja became my Master’s and PhD advisor. A people-person and a brilliant teacher through and through, with a passion to bring out the very best in everyone around him. He had a special, gentle touch for this and no matter the circumstance one would always walk away from a conversation with him feeling better and more confident, knowing that one could count on his unwavering and unconditional support. He created a wonderful team spirit in the “Thermo Group” with events like the legendary super bowl football gatherings, where few people actually watched the game but came for the company and conversation, many joint trips to conferences and also through his New Year’s emails which created a connection between people who had the good fortune of knowing him. Whenever he was in London he always found the time to meet and catch-up on what was going on. He has always been an inspiration and a role model for me - one that I will always fall far short of reaching. It is so very sad that he has passed away far too early. He is leaving being a group of people who admired and adored him. My thoughts are with Carole, Kerima and Adam, and his family and friends. May he rest in peace.

The present that I most look forward to every Christmas is Dr. Teja's annual Holiday Greetings. His messages were usually witty, funny, and always had a positive vibe to it. I had learnt so much about his past students from his Holiday Greetings. Although I never met many of them, they feel very familiar to me. I am proud to be a member of the Teja's research group and I am appreciate that he welcomed us into his life. I will always cherish and remember the 2018 Christmas holiday where Wahid, Zahid, Pramod, Yanhui, and I spent with Dr. Teja and Carole at their lake house. It really pain me to say goodbye to my beloved advisor Dr. Teja.


I learned with great sadness that my distinguished colleague Professor Amyn Teja is no more among us. I extend all my heartfelt condolences to his family in this difficult time. Amyn was always there to encourage and help his junior colleagues such as myself, and he enabled the bright careers of so many young scientists through decades of scholarly work.  I regret his sudden departure very much, and cherish the memories of our collegiality and conversations.

Dr. Teja was my PhD advisor at Georgia Tech. He was a wonderful advisor, coach, and mentor to me. He not only taught me chemical engineering, but he also coached me on technical writing and presenting skills. He promoted a great balance of work and fun, and had a wonderful sense of humor. He is the most intelligent, caring, humble, and gentle man I have ever known. His loss is a great loss not only to his beloved family, but to the Georgia Tech community as well and especially future chemical engineering students who will not have the benefit of his patient guidance as I did. 

OBITUARY

Amynmohamed S. Teja

May 11, 1946 – June 28, 2019

Floral Hills Funeral Home, Cremation Services & Memory Gardens

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