Chelladurai Shanthaseelan David

Chelladurai (Chella) Shantaseelan David, aged 89, passed-away peacefully on October 24, 2025, in Des Moines Washington.  Chella was the son of John and Esther David, and was born on June 18, 1936 in Conoor, India.  He was the fifth of six children and his name translated was consistent with his place in the family as “dear pet”.   With the help of a family friend with connections to Berea College, and his parents, who sold jewelry to pay for his trip, Chella realized his dream to study abroad in the United States.  He made the trek from Madras to Berea, Kentucky, via four flights, hitchhiking and several bus and train rides, alone in a foreign country before GPS!  Chella majored in Agricultural Biology at Berea College and graduated with his BS in 1961.  During his Berea days he played varsity soccer and tennis.  He also worked in the dairy farm and greenhouse as his campus jobs.  He met his first wife, Hazel Tallent, at Berea and they married in 1961.  Chella then obtained a Master’ s Degree in Animal Genetics at the University of Kentucky (1962), and then a Ph.D. in Immunogenetics at Iowa State (1966).  During this time, his daughters, Sheila and Lila were born.  After his Ph.D., the family moved to Ann Arbor, where he was a Postdoctoral Associate, Research Associate and Assistant Research Associate at the University of Michigan until 1975.  During this time that he was involved in several major discoveries in defining “major histocompatibility complex (MHC)” genes in mice involved in immune regulation; this work paved the way for the broad understanding of MHC genes in human diseases.  

Chella was appointed as an Associate Professor in Immunology at Washington University, St. Louis (1975-1977).  Before he left Michigan, he and Hazel divorced and he met and later married Judy (Johnson), and their son, Shanth was born in St. Louis.  He also welcomed three step-children into the family (Chris, Colin and Jenny).   The time in St. Louis was brief, since he was lured away to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in 1977 as Professor of Immunology, where he remained until he retired in 2015.  During his time at Mayo, he developed mice that were used in research studies all over the world and pioneered introducing human genes into mice to study immune regulation in various diseases, such as arthritis.  He was named the Alice Sheets Marriot Chair of Immunology in 1989.  He received many scientific awards, including Ranbaxy Research Award in Medical Sciences, Berea Distinguished Alumni Award, Howley Arthritis Foundation Award and Mayo Distinguished Investigator Award.  He mentored a plethora of Postdoctoral Associates, Medical Students, Graduate and Undergraduate students in his laboratory; these trainees are a legacy of his impact.  He was amazingly prolific publishing an incredibly high number of impactful scientific publications (~500). 

Chella was passionately physically active and loved the outdoors; Chella relished playing tennis, with his brother-in-law Suresh Savarirayan as one of his favorite opponents.  He also loved skiing, hiking, bike-riding, dancing, and horse-back riding.   Chella and Judy had homes in Park City, Utah where Chella could be found in the mountains during all seasons.  He also loved being near the ocean, which he said was due to formative times spent with his father in Madras.  He also loved having parties and entertaining—he was a party animal!  He enjoyed spending time with his children and sharing his passions with them—inspiring Sheila’s love for science, Lila’s for tennis, and Shanth’s for many sports (e.g. Vikings-SKOL!)- to capture just a few examples. 

Chella is survived by his wife Judy (of almost 50 years) and his children and their spouses, Sheila David (Pete Beal), Lila Lawler (Jim), Shanth David (Clair) and step-children Jenna LaDue (Josh), Colin Craig (Lori) and Chris Craig (Jill).  He is also survived by 11 grandchildren, Dan Lawler & Jessica DiBenedetto (Lila), Surina and Maya Beal (Sheila), Max and Drew David (Shanth), Jack and Gavin Craig (Colin), Rowan Blacksher (Jenny) and Zack and Alex Craig (Chris).  He is also survived by one great-granddaugher, Sienna DiBenedetto (Jessica).  Chella is also survived by his ex-wife Hazel (Stangis), his sister Indrani Savarirayan and her husband Suresh, sister-in-law Mary David, many nieces and nephews that were all especially dear to him, his extended cousin network, scientific colleagues and many friends.  He was preceded in death by his brothers Ernest, Mohan and sisters Saro and Lakshmi. 

Chella always had a great affection for Berea College, which provided the amazing opportunity for a kid from India to study in the U.S.  Berea College is a unique college founded to be accessible to people who could otherwise not afford a college education.  Berea provides a tuition-free education with support of its endowment and donations.  Students work at the college to support the institution and their learning.  Chella was on the board of trustees at Berea for six years.  He also endowed the “Esther and Davy David Fellowship” in 2015 “to provide tuition and other educational support to Berea College students with first preference for Asian students and second preference for international students”.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks for “Chella Fans” to consider donating in his honor to Berea College to this endowed fellowship fund.  Checks could be mailed to Berea College, PO Box 1855, Berea, KY 40403, with the name of the fund in the memo or go to berea.edu and click on Donate. 

To honor and celebrate his life, a “Chellabration” is planned for Spring/Summer 2026.