In Memoriam: Candadai Seshachari

We note with sadness the passing of Candadai Seshachari, a popular and respected professor of English at Weber State University, and a friend to Mormon literature, on October 6.

From the Salt Lake Tribune obituary:

Candadai Seshachari, 1928 – 2015

Candadai Seshachari, “Sesh”, 87 years, passed away October 6, 2015. He was born in the holy city of Kanchipuram, India to Govindachari and Rajalakshmi Candadai in 1928.

Sesh came to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in the 1960’s to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Utah. He married Neila Idgunji Mavinkurve in 1969 and returned to the USA with her and daughters Roopa and Priya to teach English at Weber State College. An admirer of Gandhi, Sesh wrote a book on Gandhi and the American Scene as his Ph.D. dissertation.

One of Weber State’s most popular professors of English, he also served as Chairman of the English Department and as the acting Dean. With his helpful actions and guidance, he fostered the academic development of so many students. Along with his wife Neila, he was a consummate fundraiser and sponsored the arts in many ways. As President of the Ogden Symphony and Ballet Association, he and Neila engaged in fundraising dinners for the symphony at their home. He was an active member of academic circles as well as Ogden’s vibrant Indian community, a great source of love and support to him.

Sesh and Neila worked tirelessly to pass the RAMP tax in Ogden to benefit recreation, arts, museums and parks for their community. He used to joke that he got people to vote for a tax increase! When his wife tragically died in 2002, he continued to work for this cause and worked on the board until just a few years ago. Two years ago, he received the Lifetime Contribution to the Arts Award from the Mayor of Ogden. We remember him for his great example of love, patience, scholarship and stewardship of the next generation. We love Sesh for his generosity of spirit, his wicked sense of wit and his magnanimous love for family and community.

He is survived by daughters Roopa Hashimoto (Edward, children Daniel, Michael, and Katherine), Priya Sanger (Mick) and Ranjit Mavinkurve (Smita Kasargod, children Ria and Lara), grandchildren Daniel Hashimoto (Mandy Richardville, children James and Sophia), Michael Hashimoto (Yuan-Yuan, children Sarah and Emma) and Katherine Hashimoto Roehner (Nic).

A memorial reception will be held on Friday, October 9, 2015 from 5-7pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy, UT. Online condolences at www.larkincares.com.

Although not Mormons, Sesh and Neila were active participants in the Association for Mormon Literature from its start in 1976 through the 1990s. Sesh gave a paper, “Insights from the Outside: From a Commentator’s Notepad” at the 1978 AML conference. The paper was published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 1978, 11;2, and republished as “Insights from the Outside: Thoughts for the Mormon Writer” in Arts and Inspiration: Mormon Perspectives, BYU Press, 1980. He also wrote, “Revelation: The Cohesive Element in International Mormonism,” which was published in Dialogue, 1980, 13:4.

Sesh served a term as president of the Association of Mormon Letters in 1983-1984. Neila was also named president-elect of AML in 2002, but then died a week after her appointment. Neila, who was the editor of the literary journal Weber Studies, has been given two AML Awards, one in 1993 for “Service to Mormon Letters”, after she produced a special issue of her journal on Mormon literature, and a memorial award in 2002, after her death. The citation for that memorial award read, “Neila Seshachari died March 10, 2002, the week following her election as president-elect of The Association for Mormon Letters. As teacher, scholar, editor, Neila helped promote and interpret Mormon letters during her career at Weber State University, since coming to the United States with her husband Candidai Seshachari in the late 1960s. “Sesh” was a former president of AML. Neila received a Distinguished Service Award from AML in 1994, honoring the tenth anniversary issue of Weber Studies, which she as editor devoted to Mormon letters. Neila set standards and then worked with others to bring us up to these standards. During her year on the board of AML she wrote a grant for AML which sets a model for future grant writing to private foundations. She devotedly responded to AML board discussions with detailed e-mails full of insights. And at last year’s Annual Meeting she delivered an interpretative paper on Leap by Terry Tempest Williams that was to be just the beginning of study of writing from a Mormon background. Although she was Hindu, not Mormon, she loved this literature. With thousands of co-workers, students, and scholars we mourn her passing. Today we dedicate these sessions to her memory.”

Many details of Sesh’s career can be read in the citation for his award Ogden’s Lifetime Contribution to the Arts for 2013. He was the author of Gandhi and the American Scene: An Intellectual History and Inquiry. It was his University of Utah Ph.D. dissertation in 1964, and was published in Bombay in 1969.

Scott Hales, quoting Seshachari in 2012, wrote, “Seshachari argues that it is precisely through their ‘unique experience’ as Mormons that Mormon writers ‘probe and define the complexities of the human condition.’ ‘This experience,’ he suggests, ‘defines [their] being. If one takes away from [them] the memory of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, the tragedy and the heroism of the exodus of [their] ancestors, as well as the everyday details that made Zion happen, it is like blotting out the story of Christ from a Christian’s consciousness, or like rooting out the fact of slavery from the racial memory of the American black.’”

We wish the Seshachari family comfort in this difficult time, and thank them for their parents’ service to the arts.