Remembering the profound impact he had on our lives and the lasting legacy he left behind. His influence will forever remain in our hearts and minds. Forever missed.

Dearest Tapan,
One more anniversary of your passing away on March 12, and still I am unable to cope with this unbeareable pain. The suffering of your loss is the same no matter if three years went by already. I miss your generous friendship, your caring for me and others, your smile, your jokes, your sincere interest in any and all the details of what I did today and yesterday and my plans for tomorrow and the day after... I miss not being able to ask your opinion and advice in this and that. Yesterday I enjoyed the visit of some friends from Buenos Aires and we spoke about you for hours!!!
You are most dearly missed today and always!!!

My dearest Tapan,
One more "official" birthday... It went by with me remembering you all the time and the many ocassions we celebrated it with a cake and candles usually at your place in Syracuse.
Now you have with you in heaven one more person who loved you dearly. My dear mother who passed away on July 6, 2023, 6:23 am. As you remember she used to say that you could have been a maharaja, because of your impressive presence, heigth and voice. You used to enjoy her sense of humor and her fine irony. I am sur both of you together with my father and your parents are having a wonderful time together. Please tell her I miss her every single minute of my day. And it is redundant to say that I also miss you exactly as I missed you from day one.
With love, Magdalena 

Time flies! Keep shining the heavenly rays (waves) from above, and keep inspiring others with your works.

Happy birthday Tapan! We think of you often and talk about the wonderful memories we shared with you. We’ll miss you forever…….
Yachiyo and Christian

Dear Tapan, this year without you has been extremely painful for me and for many of your friends. I cannot express in words my feelings on how I miss you every day, how I look for your advice, your comments, your opinions... You have influenced my live and the lives of so many that is just impossible to verbalize it. I was very fortunate to meet you back in 1989 during the IMS. That was the beginning of our collaboration, your mentorship towards me, and much more important, your enrinching friendship... You were generous enough to include in that friendship your whole family, your culture and traditions, your Bengali friends, your universe and your immense knowledge not only technical but also of history and nature. Tapan, the trips your friends shared with you were full of interesting conversations on such a variety of topics, full of new cultural experiences, enjoying nature, and much more! You cannot imagine how much we miss you!!! 

Today Tapan was remembered during the IEEE Region 9 Committee meeting which is happening in Mexico City, Mexico, March 9-12, 2022.
Prof. Tapan K. Sarkar, PhD, passed away on March 12, 2021, after a brave fight for his live of more than eleven months. Prof. Sarkar was elected as 2020 IEEE Vice President for Publication Services and Products, IEEE Board of Directors member. He was an IEEE Life Fellow, and the 2014 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) President. A smart and prolific researcher, gifted professor, colleague and the best of friends. Prof. Sarkar devoted many time and effort on outreach projects to increase the number of members who will benefit of IEEE being their professional home, and in particular, AP-S members and AP-S Chapters. Among other geographical areas he focused on many Region 9 Sections: Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and so on. The last IEEE meeting he was able to attended was preciseley the 2020 Region 9 Committee meeting in Lima, Peru, March 12-14, 2020.
Thanks, Dr. Sarkar, we will always miss you!!!

I am thankful to have the opportunity to add a few words in remembrance of Tapan-da. Difficult to believe a year has passed already since this vibrant, creative and indeed passionate human being left us. This site with the many tributes and the amazing photo collection is testament to the full and vital life he led, connecting scientists and others from across the world. Glad I was able to meet him both in Link Hall, Syracuse University, during my many visits there, and also more informally at cultural sessions in the basement of Jyotsna-di/Sakti-da's home. The legacy is all there is for a human life- and for TKS it is impactful.

It is an unbearable pain not to be able to wish you, Tapan, a very happy birthday as I used to do for the last 31 years. You were always so happy that I had remembered your "official" anniversary! Althouhg, of course, you expressed it in your usual contained way, adding however a casual joke... How much I miss you and your friendship, Tapan, every single minute...!

Dear Srijata: Kindly excuse my first-name address, but being 7 or 8 years younger than Tapan-da, it is probably not too impertinent. May I compliment you for this most moving and appropriate tribute to your Jyethu. I was deeply saddened when I heard about Tapan-da's loss only yesterday (July 4th), and even though I had not interacted with him directly much, I definitely knew him, and knew of him, for several years. He and I joined our respective institutions the same year (1986)- he at Syracuse U (I believe as Associate Professor, ECE) and I at Binghamton University, SUNY, as Assistant Professor, ECE. Your photo album is literally a biographical study of a fascinating human being- thanks so much for laying it out as a study of his life. His childhood photos are just as precious, and immediately draw attention to a highly accomplished Bengali family. BTW- I personally know several of those in your photo collection- Sakti-da, Jyotsna-di, Probal-da, Dr. Gurnek Singh, Uday Banerjee and others. Even at a distance, it felt like re-connecting with family.

Remembering a "giant" in electromagnetics (EM) and signal processing. Ten years senior to me at the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT, Kharagpur, Tapan-da spent some time in grad school in Canada before coming to Syracuse University (SU) for his PhD with Roger Harrington, a world-renowned figure in EM. It is said that at IIT, the dorm warden had to have a special bed made for Tapan-da before the mid-terms since he was too tall (over 6'4"). After graduating from SU, Tapan-da was faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology for 9 years, before returning to SU as faculty in 1986.
   I met Tapan-da when I was a young faculty member at SU, and helped him dis-assemble, move and re-assemble his YaG laser when he moved from RIT to SU. We worked collaboratively on many areas, such as impulse radar. In the '70s and '80s, Syracuse was well known for research on EM, signal processing and radar, both in the university and at GE. My students were always warmly greeted by him when they went to him for technical help. I was in many theses and dissertation committees with him as well, and got to experience his ebullience, honesty, and straightforwardness. He was never shy to call a spade a spade - his well-known phrase when he was not in agreement with someone's work was "it's Mickey-Mouse work".
   Once I rode with him to NSF in the middle of a New York winter snowstorm to promote our work. Driving through snow-swept roads like Rt 17 in New York and I-95 between NYC and DC at record speeds, we did not even dare to take an exit from the highway, fearing we couldn't come back on. At an unscheduled roadside stop to attend to nature's call, Tapan-da walked down the ledge by the road, occasionally asking me "Partha, can you still see me?"
   I will miss his charisma, his assistance to me and many of my students, and his simplicity. On numerous occasions, we would go to a pizza-by-the-slice shop on campus (70 cents per slice for cheese pizza in late '80s) or to the faculty restaurant, where we would talk about research and life.
  RIP, Tapan-da, keep those EM waves traveling from up there so that they continue to shine on us and illuminate us for ever.

From the time I began visiting Syracuse, NY, and Syracuse University (SU, around 1986 and for many years afterwards) during the years that my friend Partha Banerjee was a young faculty member there, Dr. Tapan Sarkar (TKS) was commonly identified to me as "the Tall Indian". And tall he was - I am told 6'4" (somehow he came across as taller), and belonged in an echelon of truly accomplished academics. He was very much part of an electrical engineering elite at SU at the time- their ECE building then housed such internationally well-known stalwarts as Norman Balabanian, Roger Harrington and Glen Glasford. These were leading ECE figures whose books and works we venerated even back in India as science and engineering students. 
I did not get to meet Tapan-da one-on-one in any significant way, even though the opportunity presented itself multiple times. I did hear many stories about his "under-the-breath" style of speech ("ki, lunch korte jabe naki?"- Partha would sometimes render a nice imitation), and also as several have remembered here, he was rather often "out of town" on his many research travels worldwide (someone, I believe Dr. Varshney, noting jocularly that "he returned to Syracuse to get his laundry done" may not be entirely off the mark).
My best close encounter, however, occurred on several occasions at the wonderful home of Dr. Sakti Mookerjee (Sakti-da) and Jyotsna-di, at whose home many of us Bengalis (and another genuine "Bengali", Dr. Gurnek Singh) gathered often in order to celebrate major Bengali events through the year (Nababarsha, Rabindra Jayanti and so forth). We may note the fine tributes here from Sakti-da himself, and also his daughters in remembrance. Tapan-da would quite often be present, admittedly occupying a place near the back (while I would sometimes be further upfront, being prevailed upon to present a song or two, or join in choruses or duets). On one occasion, I recall the attendees included Tapan-da's father as well, and I still possess one or more photographs from that occasion.
Quite apart from his great scientific accomplishments over a wide range of advanced electromagnetics topics, one specific contribution he made stands out in my mind. This was a contribution for which all of Bengal owes him a debt of gratitude. Tapan-da spearheaded a very successful scholarly campaign to accord the long-overdue recognition to the distinguished Indian/Bengali physicist, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose as the inventor or the very earliest microwave detectors and also as a pioneer in the field of wireless communication, predating Guglielmo Marconi. His efforts resulted in a number of commemorative publications dedicated to J C Bose, including an entire volume or more published by the IEEE (the largest technical society in the world). This effort alone bears witness to Tapan-da's deep-rooted regard for Bengal, India and his heritage. Many of these exceptional qualities have been highlighted in this thread; I would simply conclude with my heartfelt remembrances of this remarkable scholar (and for many a genuinely giant presence) who made Bengal and India proud, and left his outstanding works as a lasting legacy.

On behalf of my parents, Aloke and Shampa I would like to add a few words about Tapan as we knew him.
He was a man of few words, as all of you are aware, but a man with the biggest heart and compassion that I knew. He was always observant but expressionless, and had the uncanny sixth sense to know and give before you even ask for it. He always acted on his beliefs, always stood up vociferously for what he believed was right.
Despite having left India in the late 60’s, he was always deeply rooted in his culture, be it his taste in music, movies, literature or food, while being open to the new experiences of his travels. He was the oldest son of the family and took that commitment to family unflinchingly.
Jethu, I never once saw you hesitate in lending a helping hand to anyone in need, your only condition being complete discretion. I never saw you be neglectful of anyone’s needs, starting from your parents, your siblings, your relatives and even the house helps. You had no qualms about working on household chores shoulder-to-shoulder with all of us. Your ability of blending in a crowd of your colleagues, or our relatives, my friends and their families or all the domestic helps at home, has always fascinated me. Your humility and simplicity resonates with everyone who has ever met you, and they all remember and love you for it. Your mere presence in our lives instilled a sense of security, comfort and relief that you would know what to do when we did not.
To me personally, Jethu was my guiding light and biggest cheerleader. His “I have no doubt you can do it” was like the biggest boost of self belief I could get. Be it when I was handling my grandparents’ healthcare, or the designs of extending his home in Dewitt, interviewing and finding the right contractor, or booking my first flight, or even cooking Bengali food for the first time, while he stood behind me in the kitchen. The only thing he was disappointed about was my inability to keep his plants in his home alive when he would take his trips. He solved it by having only perennial plants!
Let me end with a story that I have been remembering for the last few days.
The 4 year old I, got into an argument with a fellow classmate, about occupying a coveted seat on the school bus which dropped us home. I have always been the tallest in my class and she was a bit vertically challenged. To even out the odds, she threatened to bring her school- prefect older sister if I did not accede. I, being the only child in the whole family, no older sibling to offer, confidently retorted that I too would be bringing my Jethu, and she better know he was 6 feet and 4 inches tall!
My Jethu, knowingly or unknowingly was always my savior, my hero!
You will always be remembered and always be missed!

It’s hard to lose someone who means so much to all of us, and even harder that we couldn’t all be together to say good-bye. 
Tapan was a remarkable Professor, researcher and mentor. He will be deeply missed.
Thinking of you all as you celebrate Tapan’s life.

With warm thoughts and prayers,
Christian Pichot
Yachiyo McLaughlin

Tapan, the eternal wanderer, left lasting traces all over the world.

Tapan visited Finland uncounted times. His intensive short courses in Helsinki University of Technology and Aalto University on various aspects of electromagnetics are unforgettable.

Who would not have been affected by his physical presence, the character and decibels of his voice, his singular personality?

Tapan, we sincerely loved having you here. I trust that the feeling was reciprocal.

Tapan, our friend. We miss you.

I had the privilege of being one of Prof. Tapan Sarkar's early students. During the period 1986 - 1990, I got the opportunity to learn so much from him not just on the technical side but on life in general. Being close to Niagara Falls I also got to drive to his parents to visit Niagara Falls and got to know them very well.
I remember distinctly an incident that occurred in 1990 when I was getting ready to graduate, had an offer from IBM lined up but found to my dismay that I was one course short of the requirements needed for graduation. I begged the department chair to let me graduate without this course which he flatly refused. I then approached Prof. Sarkar. I remember him walking into the Dept. Chair's office and then saw him storm out by banging the door behind him. I thought all was lost but to my disbelief the Chair reached out me and indicated that he would let me graduate. What Prof. Sarkar had done was struck a deal with him where he agreed to supervise a special problems course that would count towards the requirements. This is just one example of the big heart that Prof. Sarkar had - he believed in the capabilities of people he worked with and was there to support them no matter what.
Since, then we have had so many instances to meet, interact, disagree with each other be it in Atlanta, Korea, Malaysia, Hawaii, India, Netherlands, ..... and everyone of those interactions have been the most memorable.
I am a Professor myself. His influence on my career has been so deep and broad, that I try to emulate his way of teaching, presenting, arguing, thinking... to this day.
Prof. Sarkar - I will miss you.

Madhavan Swaminathan
Professor, Georgia Tech

Dear Prof. Sarkar's Family,
I would like to express my heartfelt condolences on the passing of Dr. Sarkar.
I knew Dr. Sarkar when I started reading for my MSc in Egypt in 2006. His contributions, papers and books shaped the way I see the whole field of electrical engineering. I was lucky to join his lab and become his student at SU from 2009 till 2014. During this time, Dr. Sarkar always treated us as his own family. Those years had a great and lifelong impact on my life. Words fail to express the sorrow I feel for this loss. He will always be remembered.
With grief
Walid 

Our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Tapan Sarkar’s family.

Dr. Tapan Sarkar was academician and a researcher in true sense.

He was recognized worldwide for his excellent research in the computational electromagnetic area.

He was honored by academic institutions and other organizations.

We Know Dr. Sarkar for a long time and we admire him for his research contribution to Electrical Engineering.

May his soul rest in peace.

My heartfelt condolence and sympathy to Prof. Sarkar’s family and friends. I do not have words to express my grief. We lost him too soon. He was a father figure to me and it will be difficult to come to term with this loss. My heart reaches out to his family and friends. No words can be comforting at this hour of grief and we can never fathom the pain and grief they are going through.
I was always awe stuck by his aura, his personality and his immense depth of knowledge on any subject. His and his family's hospitality in Kolkata will forever be etched in our minds. His trips to Kolkata will always start with a call to have dinner with him and his family. It was like a ritual to have sessions of adda with him, his family and friends. Winters in Kolkata will never be the same again. Conferences will never be the same again.
I was planning to visit Syracuse some time to visit Prof. Sarkar, but alas that will never happen now. I cherish the time I spent with him and will miss him forever.

Dear Prof. Sarkar's family

I am Chainarong Kittiyanpunya from Thailand. I got a sad news about passing Professor Tapan Sarkar. I'm stunned by this news. This is a tremendous loss for our profession. I truly appreciate him kindness for educating support. He has taught and supervised me when I visited his laboratory at Syracuse University. I know well that he is the best professor and researcher forever. Goodbye, my dear professor.
My thoughts and prayers are with Professor Sarkar and his family.

Sincerely,
Chainarong Kittiyanpunya
Thailand

On this somber and solemn occasion let us extend first our heartfelt condolence and deep sympathy to Dr. Tapan Sarkar’s family that include his youngest brother, Debasish from MD caring for him for the last several months of his mortal illness and his other brother Aloke and his wife Sampa and their daughter Srijata who was Tapan’s favorite niece at Kolkata, India. She was the apple of his eye and he loved her dearly.Tapan himself was a lifelong bachelor and an active member of our Syracuse family.

Tapan Sarkar was devoted to his academic pursuit and was recognized as an erudite scholar, an original productive researcher and practical scientist in his chosen field, and a respected post graduate and post-doctoral professor. He was honored numerous times by various national and international prestigious organizations including several honorary doctorates from well-known international universities. But he was very unassuming and never let any other person know of his successes and glorious achievements and that included his close friends and family members even including his parents, and I did have the privilege to know his parents well , late Dr, Sanat Sarkar and late Mrs. Mira Sarkar who used to come to Syracuse almost every year for 16 years.

Tapan was a leader, a well sought-after speaker and organizer in various high-powered meetings and related organizations and chaired their multiple year-round sessions in various countries in the world. Indeed, he was a world traveler and had been in and out of Syracuse University for weeks at a time. In 2014 he was president of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation society. IEEE is the world’s largest prestigious technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. In 2020 when in hospital, he was informed that he was awarded the 2020 institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Electromagnetic Field Award. His close associate and friend since 1980’s was Professor Magdalena Salazar Palmas of Madrid University, Spain who coauthored many papers and books with him and shared mutual fields of interest. She had been greatly concerned about Tapan’s health and used to call frequently- our heartfelt condolence to Dr. Salazar as well.
Tapan unfortunately caught COVID -19 infection in early 2020, and eventually lost his precious life prematurely after ailing seriously for over a year.
Our sincere gratitude and thanks to Mr Don Mcphearson who spared no pain even at odd hours to come and help Tapan in his illness, Mrs. Charlotte Mcphearson RN, Kush- who was Tapan’s caregiver for nearly 24 hours and his helping person Theresa Basla who informed me one afternoon of Tapan's pain and inability to move even in bed that made me get him admitted to the hospital .
On a personal note, I have known Tapan for nearly 50 years. He and Mr. Gurnek Singh came to my daughter’s Annaprasan/ that was first rice ceremony in 1972 when Suzie was just a few months old. Somewhat whimsical, but extremely bright, I was fond of Tapan— with his 6 ft 4 inches height he used to come to my rescue to help me with my 5'3" height fix things beyond my reach prior to our domestic functions and celebrations. By and large Tapan used to remain quiet until one talks about subjects he likes or does not like when we would open his mouth and express his opinion without reservation.
My family particularly my children and I were quite amused and got used to his mannerisms while admiring his superb scholarship and original contribution to science and technology. They miss their Tapan Uncle and I do miss him very much as a close friend -more like a dear brother.

We all wish his soul rest in eternal peace! 

My sincere condolences to Tapan's family and many friends and colleagues. I was fortunate to know and follow some of Tapan's brilliant work for some 45 years. He will be dearly missed.

Dear Tapan's family:

Let me express my condolences. Dr Sarkar's was my Ph.D co-advisor together with Prof. Salazar in Spain. I visited Sr. Sarkar's lab in SU several times during my Ph.D. Also, Dr. Sarkar visited Spain in many occasions afterwards. During hat time Dr. Sarkar made a huge impact in my research thinking. I was lucky to share many technical conversations in which his brilliant mind shined clearly.

And Tapan, the man, was also brilliant with a very good sense of humour and determination. Still remember he was the happiest professor in the world by simply sharing a pizza at Varsity when receiving important honors or prizes.

With my best wishes

Remembering our Tapan Kaka! When I think of Kaka I think of my dad always saying “ Tapan ke dakee” usually to feed him ☺️( since he always fed us at awesome restaurants). Kaka was always there for dad to help him with anything ... especially all those really high hard to reach places.... —it was Tapan Kaka who helped us put up our Durga pandal for years. I also remember landing in Kolkata and heading to his home and he always had the most delicious and exquisite Indian delicacies to taste followed by a tour of all the amazing birds on his chaath( roof). As my sister, Suzie Mookherjee always says “he was there at my first birthday”. Kaka you will be missed by so many. You have been a constant in our lives, not only at every big occasion but also for so many of those everyday moments... love you....

Tapan was an astonishing professor, mentor and colleague, a sharp and brilliant mind, a generous human being, and best of friends. I was blessed to meet him 32 years back. He mentored me, worked with me, never lost faith on me, and made of me a better human being. Thanks, Tapan, for your generosity!

"The Spirit is neither born nor does it die at any time. It does not come into being or cease to exist. It is unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval. The Spirit is not destroyed when the body is destroyed."
His love, his support, his spirit will never leave your side. You were fortunate to have him in your life. And I'm sure he's still watching over you. Your guardian angel.

Dear Tapan's Family:

I received the sad news that Tapan passed away. I would like to offer my heart felt condolences. Tapan Sarkar was a great professor.

Tapan was my PhD advisor during 1985-1988. I also did my postdoc under him during 1988-1989. He and I traveled together to several conferences and shared the same hotel rooms in late 1980s. My first visit to Italy was also with him to consult for Aritalia in 1988 or 1989. After the business, I decided to visit Rome and other cities by myself. Before I took a train ride, he offered me a waist bag to keep important things safe from thieves. He was a very thoughtful man. After l moved to Australia, he visited me and my family in mid 1990s. When we were enjoying a walk in Melbourne Zoo, he caringly reminded me of keeping an eye on my little daughter who was running around. We also met when I was on sabbatical in Hong Kong during 1999-2000. He also visited me and my family in my house shortly after I moved to California in 2001. He loved traveling around the world, and I enjoyed his side trip to visit me every time. Tapan and I shared a strong passion for research in our respective and constantly moving fields, which perhaps also reduced our contacts in recent years. Tapan is always remembered in my heart.

With best wishes

Yingbo