Sharat Kumar Nambiar, a senior in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, passed away in a car accident in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Dec. 25. Rohit Krishnakumar, Nambiar’s childhood friend and a university student in Britain, was also killed in the accident.
Nambiar was pursuing a major in international relations in Pardee, as well as a minor in the Questrom School of Business.
Adil Najam, dean of Pardee, said the loss has been hard for the entire Pardee community to accept and process.
“This untimely and sad and tragic death has left a very deep scar, I think, in all of us,” Najam said. “Anyone so young and so full of potential losing their life at this juncture and [in] this way, I think, is very hard.”
Najam said the aftermath of Nambiar’s passing has served as a reminder to him about the importance of community building within Pardee and, more broadly, the university as a whole.
“One of the things this has reminded me of again as I speak to his friends, to other students who were close to him and faculty members who were close to him is the power of community,” Najam said, “and that universities and higher education institutions are such an important community for so many people who are here and leave such a deep impact on everyone.”
Jayita Sarkar, an assistant professor at Pardee, taught Nambiar in two different classes, both in 2018, and wrote in a statement that he was an eager and participatory student.
“He would frequently see me during office hours asking questions about the world,” Sarkar wrote, “always curious to learn more.”
Sarkar also wrote Nambiar expressed interest in the field of international relations so he could one day represent India, his home country, as a diplomat.
“Losing [Nambiar] is a great loss to Pardee because we lost someone who genuinely cared about international relations,” Sarkar wrote. “A fine young man who could have done much to change the world.”
Pardee held a service for Nambiar on Friday and provided grief counseling for students, faculty and staff who need additional support.
