Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Panicker dead

Rev Dr Geevarghese Panicker, noted educationist and principal of Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, for 18 years, died on Sunday. He was 85.

He died of age-related illnesses at 9.15 a.m. at a private hospital in Kollam.

The body of Geevarghese Panicker was taken to Paranthal, his native place, on Sunday evening.   The funeral will be held at the St George Malankara Catholic Church, Paranthal, Adoor, at 2 p.m. on Monday. Catholicos Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, will lead the funeral services.

Dr Geevarghese Panicker earned his Masters degree from the Kerala University and his doctorate from the Catholic University, Washington DC. He started his teaching career as English lecturer at Mar Ivanios College. In 1959, he became the college vice-principal and two years later became principal – a post he held upto 1979.

Famous personalities like Justice J. B. Koshy, K. Jayakumar IAS, Jagathi Sreekumar, T. M. Jacob, G. Venugopal were students of Fr. Panicker.

Those 18 years were memorable ones for the college. Many of today’s important figures from different walks of life – politics to literature to art and culture – number among his students.

Geevarghese Panicker was born to K.G. Thomas Panicker and Achiyamma on March 31, 1924. After his schooling, he joined the St Aloysius Minor Seminary under the Thiruvananthapuram Archdiocese. He completed the training at the Kandy Papal Seminary, Sri Lanka, and was ordained in 1949.

After his retirment from Mar Ivanios College, Geevarghese Panicker  served as rector at the St Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Aluva, and then for two years, as rector of the St Mary’s Malankara Seminary, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1987, he took charge as dean of studies at the St Ephraem Institute, Kottayam. He was leading a retired life in Kollam in recent years.

Fr. Panicker died on the same day as his father, Thomas Panicker, did 30 years ago.