R.I.P. Dr CK Job

Ref.:   R.I.P. Dr CK Job
From: H. Srinivasan, Chennai, India

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Dear Dr Salvatore Noto and my LML friends,

I was shocked to learn that Dr. CK Job passed away two weeks ago, on 26^th May.  I understand he was 89 years old at the time of his death, but more than with anybody else in his case particularly, age is no valid excuse nor does it justify one’s passing away.  As I am getting older I find I am getting more and more lonely as my friends are gradually disappearing from the scene, one by one; Drs. Christian, Ramu, Ramanujam, Selvapandian, Fritschi, Ganapathi . . . and now Dr. Job.  It appears that along with leprosy, the breed of dedicated leprologists is also getting “eliminated’ by time!  

We may not have been communicating with each other frequently, but there was a mental rapport amongst us, transcending language, religion and our own individual specialties.  We valued our friendship and respected the others’ industry, scholarship, integrity, simplicity and sincerity and recognized our common concern which was the well-being of the individual leprosy-affected person, irrespective of the leprosy scenario in the community at large.  Dr. Job towered above most, if not all, of us, his contemporaries, in these qualities.  He was never pompous or overbearing even when most provoked to be so, and that more than anything else endeared him to me right from the beginning.  At this juncture I can only say that I have indeed been extremely fortunate that I came to know Dr. CK Job fairly early in my career and could claim him as a friend of mine.

H. Srinivasan
Surgeon (Retired)
25, First Seaward Road
Chennai 600 041
(South India)