Obituaries: Sorab Mistry

Sorab Pirozshah Mistry, “Soli” to his family and friends, led a charmed life. A benevolent history always placed him at the right time in the right place. Soli was born Dec. 18, 1920, in Bombay, one of the jewel cities of Colonial India, to Pirozshah Dorabji and Jerbei Mistry. The family was Parsi, members of the local community most respected by the British, thanks to the strict ethics dictated by their Zoroastrian faith. Young Soli enjoyed an excellent education, first with the Jesuit fathers at St. Xavier, then at the Institute of Science in Bangalore and, finally, at Cambridge University in England.

The years in England were happy ones. He met a young Swiss student, Margrith Buechi, and fell in love. Married in 1953, warmly embraced by her family and Swiss friends, he started a lifelong love affair with Switzerland and all things Swiss, leading to many family visits, sabbaticals and teaching assignments at ETH Zurich and Zurich University.

His special interest in Biotin research brought Soli to the University of Illinois to work with Prof. Connor Johnson as a postdoctoral fellow (1952-53) and research associate (1953-54). It was the time of the “Brain Drain,” when American universities actively recruited well-trained foreign scientists. Soli accepted the offer of a faculty position, very much to the surprise of his European colleagues who could not understand why he would want to be in “the middle of nowhere”!

Those were the golden years for research, when funds and grants were plentiful for good work in the lab and lecture hall. Soli settled down happily to academic life. He didn’t like to be rushed or pressured, but gave a lot of attention and time to his students, several of whom went on to leading academic positions in the United States, India and Italy.

The “middle of nowhere” became very much the center of the universe for Soli and Margrith as they built a life and raised their family. Their daughter Dinu grew up to become a plastic and reconstructive surgeon practicing in Boise, Idaho, with her surgeon husband, James Wolf. They have three daughters, Margrith, Verena and Avery. Son Darius (Dara) became an international banker now working in London for HSBC. He and his musician wife, Cecile von Holzen, have two daughters, Francesca and Joelle. Soli’s family was his hobby. He spent all his leisure time with them and took them along on all his international travels. His grandchildren liked to spend summer vacation in Champaign where – without beach or mountains or Disney World – they had a great time thanks to the loving attention of the Mistrys’ friends. Soli’s only brother, Keki, is retired from Michigan State University and lives with his wife Phyllis, son Ron and grandson Brandon in Okemos.

With retirement, Soli said goodbye to biochemistry and happily took over the kitchen, cooking hot Indian food, brewing excellent tea and mixing a fine scotch and soda. At the end, he was blessed one more time. He was able to die in his daughter’s home in Boise with his family by his side on Dec. 28, 2015, after celebrating one last Christmas together. We, his family, feel deeply grateful for having been part of his long and charmed life.

In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, the family suggests donations to the WILL television station to honor Soli’s addiction to “The NewsHour.”

Posted on The News Gazette