Obituaries Current Affairs September 2026

Soorya Krishnamoorthy, who left a two-decade ISRO career to found the Soorya Festival in 1977, died at Thiruvananthapuram on 23 September 2026, aged 78. A theatre director and cultural organiser, he spent more than twenty years with the Indian Space Research Organisation before turning to the arts full time. He founded the Soorya Festival under the Soorya Stage and Film Society, and the Limca Book of Records recognises it as Asia's longest-running cultural festival, drawing audiences and artists from more than 30 countries. His death came days after that of Vir Chakra awardee Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke, in a month of notable Indian obituaries.

Eminent educationist, writer and Konkani language activist N Purushothama Mallya died on 11 September 2026 in Kochi, Kerala, aged 97. Born on 7 May 1929 in Mattancherry, he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2015 in the field of Literature and Education. He pioneered the Shataka (100-line) poetry form in Konkani and translated Thiruvalluvar's Thirukkural into Konkani in 2002, winning the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award in 2008. He was central to securing Konkani's inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and linguistic-minority status for Konkani speakers in Kerala, and received the Vimala V. Pai Vishwa Konkani Jeevan Siddhi Samman in 2011.

Veteran Tamil scholar and orator Solomon Pappaiah died at the age of 90 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Born on 22 February 1936 at Sathangudi village near Thirumangalam in Madurai district, he headed the Department of Tamil at American College, Madurai, from 1961 to 1994. He became a household name through televised Pattimandram (Tamil debates), moderating more than 12,000 of them over his lifetime, and also appeared in Tamil films. In 2021 he received the Padma Shri for Literature and Education, becoming the first Pattimandram moderator to be given the honour, and had earlier won the Tamil Nadu government's Kalaimamani award in 2000.

Gujarati music composer, arranger and singer Gaurang Vyas died at the age of 87 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Born on 24 November 1938 in Mumbai, he was the son of the celebrated composer Avinash Vyas and began as his father's assistant on *Jesal Toral* before his independent debut with *Lakho Phulani*. He scored music for over 100 films, including *Bhavni Bhavai*, *Maniyaro* and *Liludi Dharati*, and produced devotional and folk albums such as *Jalaramni Jhumpdi* and *Kahat Kabir*. He won around 11 state-level Best Music Direction awards and the Gujarat government's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute.

Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke (Retd.), a decorated Indian Air Force fighter pilot and Vir Chakra awardee, passed away in New Delhi at the age of 87. Born in 1939, he was commissioned into the IAF on 19 December 1961 through the 80th Pilots Course and served with No. 14 Squadron (The Fighting Bulls) before leaving the service in 1968 after about seven years. During the 1965 India–Pakistan War he shot down a Pakistani F-86 Sabre while flying a Hawker Hunter from Kalaikunda Air Force Station, West Bengal. He was awarded the Vir Chakra, India's third-highest wartime gallantry award, for his courage during the Battle of Kalaikunda.

Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke, a Vir Chakra awardee of the Indian Air Force, died on 18 September 2026 at the Base Hospital, New Delhi, aged 87. He is remembered for the Kalaikunda air battle in West Bengal during the 1965 Indo-Pak War, when, flying a Hawker Hunter, he took on six Pakistani Sabre jets attacking the airfield, shot one down and damaged another. He was awarded the Vir Chakra on 7 September 1965. Cooke served with No. 14 Squadron, the 'Bulls', retired from the IAF in 1968 and later settled in Australia, donating his Vir Chakra medal to the squadron in 2016.