'Prof' Edwin Rodrigues, Class of 66

March 25, 1950 – October 10, 2003

He was known as Prof when he came to the Goan Secondary School but was constantly addressed as Prof more so in his second year when he loved to pose as the science teacher. He was a genius. Had he serendipitously been studying in a western country or, for that matter, been one of the pupils in the European schools in Nairobi, he would certainly feature as a promising scientist in the field of astrophysics and technology. Not that such opportunities passed him by when he was a teacher at Strathmore College, Nairobi, but he felt he would be better utilized and could contribute more to Kenyan youth by starting a Technology Electronics Workshop there. That was his penchant. A technological whiz, a man in robotics in an impoverished African country of his birth. He baffled me with his profound depth of perception in the Form II Science or was it Math class?. While I was trying to extol the frisson of two-dimensional geometry, Edwin was seeking the permutations of a spherical star. He had already mastered the mathematical principles of squares, triangles and pythagoras; he was designing a spherical star to be hung above the porch of his house for the coming Christmas season.

I developed such great admiration and awe for this young pupil of mine that I saw it fit to write about him to remind those who knew him and heard of him, that he was one of the outstanding but humble ex-pupils of our school.

Having left the Goan school and Nairobi in May 1967, I lost direct contact with him but was always conscious of his life at Strathmore. I did, however, have occasional correspondence with his classmate, Dr Malachy De Souza. Malachy practices in Nairobi and feeds me with enough ‘habari´ from Nairobi. He has sent me the following extract on Edwin, which I am pleased to pass on to you all on this website, with my heartfelt sympathies, though belated, to his siblings.

Malachy reports : Prof was a genius as you said and could have been in high level science and technology. After finishing university, he opted to teach Physics at "A" Levels at Strathmore College, despite many other promising and lucrative offers. He did, as all teachers have done, train and educate generations of students many of whom are in top positions in Science, Technology, including NASA, Research, Management etc.

Prof was born in Nairobi on 25-03-1950 to Albina and the late Caetano (C.J.) Rodrigues into a large family of 9 children - he was somewhere in between. The oldest is Bruno (traveled to Nairobi just before Prof passed away, living in Goa), the youngest is Grace in Canada. I recall the others as Edmund (Canada - came for Prof's funeral and used to lecture at the University of Nairobi), Veronica (in cancer research at Tata Memorial, Mumbai), and Joseph who is still living in Nairobi. I don't re-call the other siblings right now. Edwin did his Primary and Secondary schooling (1956-1966) at the Dr Ribeiro's Goan Primary School and the Goan Secondary School (now Parklands School, and hopefully will revert to Dr Ribeiro's again soon!) with excellent results. "A" Levels at Strathmore College, Nairobi, where he easily got 4 grade "A's" in Maths, Pure Maths, Physics and Chemistry. He was top of his class and his name has been inscribed on the Honours Board. Besides he played both Soccer and Rugby for the College teams. He had an attractive, lively and humorous personality and attracted many friends and influenced the lives of many around him in a positive, self-less manner. He also taught Physics at Parklands for a few months before proceeding to University.

He graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1972 with double 1st Class Honours degrees in Electrical Engineering and in Physics - only Prof could manage that! With the changes in the education system from 7-4-3 (Prim-Sec-Univ), to 8-4-4, both Prof and the College felt his skills would be much higher than required. That's when he changed tack completely and started a high Technology Electronics' Workshop where he would design and manufacture highly complicated circuits for use in various industries. He trained a number of people there too - some of whom went on to open their own successful workshops. Edwin was also a Trustee of the Strathmore Educational Trust, which now provides education from Standard 1 to University level (at different locations though).

In early 2002, Prof felt unwell, not himself, tired, unable to focus and concentrate. Since he "loves" medics he hung on for a while, thinking that the crisis of the forties was hitting him at the tender age of 52. When he came to consult me in mid-2002, he looked unwell. Tests revealed Multiple Myeloma, a form of leukaemia. After consulting with Veronica at Tata´s and various specialists in Nairobi, he was sent to the University of Navarre Hospital for Chemotherapy, followed by an autologous bone-marrow transplant .He did quite well after that, and gradually returned to work.

He was working normally until a fortnight before his death, when he got a massive recurrence, which did not respond to treatment. Initially he was at home, and well cared for around the clock by the people he lived with. As he became weaker and unable to feed or use the bathroom with ease, plus with severe anaemia and failing kidneys, he was moved to the Aga Khan Hospital where a team of specialists and nurses helped him until the end came on the night of 10 October, 2003. He passed away peacefully, having received the Anointing of the Sick and surrounded by several relatives and friends. He was cheerful and kept up his humorous comments throughout his illness and never once did he complain. I am not 100% certain of his lack of complaints though - as a medic I attribute part of it to the fact that he did not want to be "pumped" with more drugs. That was Prof, and I shed quite a few tears at his wake as we've been together since 1962. He was buried at Langata Cemetery after a well attended service at the Holy Family Basilica (formerly Cathedral). Together with others, I went to pray at his graveside, put some flowers and planted some succulents on the grave on 2 November last year. I have other relatives and friend buried there too. Once the soil settles (about 12 months after burial we will have a marble slab with a plaque to indicate the grave. For the moment we have put a temporary, but decent, wooden Cross with his name and dates of birth and death

Cino Pires & Malachy De Souza