News

Jul 01, 2023

Dr. Thamby A. Ninan

Aug 2, 2023 Dr. Thamby A. Ninan COLLINS –Dr. Thamby A. Ninan age 89 passed away Saturday night July 29, 2023 at home. Born October 8, 1933 to the late A.O. and Mariamma Ninan in Muttar, Kerala, India

Aug 2, 2023

Dr. Thamby A. Ninan

COLLINS –Dr. Thamby A. Ninan age 89 passed away Saturday night July 29, 2023 at home.

Born October 8, 1933 to the late A.O. and Mariamma Ninan in Muttar, Kerala, India of the Adangapuram Kalapurayil family , the eldest of 4 siblings.

He graduated from St. Aloysius High School in Edathuva, Kerala; from Loyola College, Chennai, India with a B. A. Degree in Botany; then from Aligarh University College, Aligarh, India with a Masters Degree in Plant Pathology. He joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute to improve watermelons and musk melons .

He came to the U. S. To continue his studies- to the University of Oaklahoma, then Highlands University in New Mexico , where he was invited to speak at the American Institute of Biological Sciences on his Bougainvillea research. At the University of Florida in Gainesville, he developed mold- resistant varieties of oats.

He completed his PHD at Michigan State University in Genetics, and married undergraduate student Janice Brooker. He collected every rubus plant specimens from every county in Michigan . Sometimes he took his wife, baby son Suneil and a 2-person pop up tent to investigate wild , remote areas .

As a postdoctoral fellow at the U. S.D. A. he developed resistant varieties of wheat to the Cereal Leaf Beetle and through genetic research , prevented the beetle from reproducing.

He began teaching at the Huntington University at Indiana . He now had a daughter, Starleen Celeste. He went to John Hopkins to study Chimpanzee chromosomes compared to humans and attended a workshop at James Watson’s Lab in Long Island.

He then moved to Western New York with his family as a research scientist at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He bought an old house with a stream in back , raised his own children, foster children in need of a home , and goats chickens ducks and dogs.

With Rev. Soo Ho and Grace Han he and Janice started Blossom Gardens Friends School, K-12 in 1976. Subscribing to the philosophy that the whole world is a learning place and we learn by doing. Students investigated, hiked , visited cultural science institutions events and exhibits.

Dr. Ninan joined Erie SUNY@ Orchard Park New York where he taught for 44 years. His classes in Flora of WNY developed a herbarium of plants from Zoar Valley floodplain. He recently donated the entire herbarium to the Buffalo Science Museum.

Dr. Ninan obtained an NIH grant for identifying carcinogens in the environment . Undergraduate students were provided a unique opportunity to participate in research. He was awarded Professor Emeritus in 2019. He has numerous publications in national and international scientific journals

Dr. Ninan was born and raised in the Jacobite Church in Keeala. In the U. S. he has been a long- time active member of Collins Friends Meeting.

He enjoyed photography, walking a mile every day , identifying plants, hiking, cooking and was an avid tennis fan.

Survivors include his sisters Shantha Jacob and Leela Thomas , wife Janice son Suneil “Nick” ( Regina) Ninan, daughter Starleen (Louis) Schaffer grandchildren Nathan, Tabitha, Joshua, Athena, Keonte, Selena and great grandchild Kingsley Kay.

Friends may call at the SCHINDLER FUNERAL HOME 44 Center St. Gowanda from 4:00-7:00pm Friday. Funeral service will be held Saturday August 5, 2023 at 11:00 am from the Collins Friends Meeting Church 2345 Main St. Collins, NY 14034 (please assemble at church) Interment to follow in the Collins Center Cemetery .

Memorials, if desired to the church.