Shyamala Gopalan Age, Death, Husband, Children, Family, Biography
Shyamala Gopalan Age, Death, Husband, Children, Family, Biography
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Religion: Hinduism
Marital Status: Divorced
Age: 70 Years
| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Shyamala Gopalan Harris |
| Other Name(s) | • Gopalan Shyamala • Shyamala Harris |
| Profession | • Biomedical Scientist • Associate Professor |
| Famous for | Being the mother of Kamala Harris , 49th Vice President of United States |
| Physical Stats | |
| Height (approx.) | 5' 1" (155 cm) |
| Eye Colour | Black |
| Hair Colour | Dark Brown |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 7 December 1938 (Wednesday) |
| Birthplace | Madras, Madras Province, British India (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Date of Death | 11 February 2009 |
| Place of Death | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Age (at the time of death) | 70 Years |
| Death Cause | Colon cancer |
| Zodiac sign | Sagittarius |
| Signature |  |
| Nationality | • British Indian (1938-1947) • Indian (1947-2009) • American |
| School | Delhi Tamil Education Association Senior Secondary Schools, Delhi |
| College/University | • Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, India (1955-1958) • University of California, Berkeley (1958-1960) • University of California, Berkeley (1960-1963) |
| Educational Qualification | • Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Home Science from the Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, India • Master of Science (M.S.) in nutrition and endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley • PhD. in in nutrition and endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Caste | Brahmin |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status (at the time of death) | Divorced |
| Affairs/Boyfriends | Donald J. Harris (Economist, Professor, Writer)  |
| Marriage Date | 5 July 1963 |
| Place of Marriage | Oakland, California |
| Family | |
| Husband/Spouse | Donald J. Harris (m.1963-div.1971; Economist, Professor, Writer)  |
| Children | Daughter(s)- 2 • Kamala Harris  • Maya Harris  |
| Parents | Father- Painganadu Venkataraman Gopalan (1911 - February 1998) (Freedom Fighter, Retired Civil Servant) Mother- Rajam Gopalan (Deceased) Social Worker)  |
| Siblings | Brother-1 • Gopalan Balachandran  Sister(s)-2 • Sarala (Obstetrician)  • Mahalakshmi (Information Scientist) |
| Other Relatives | Granddaughter- Meenakshi Ashley Harris (Lawyer, Author, Activist, Theater Producer)  Grandniece- Sharada Balachandran Orihuela (Author)  |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Shyamala Gopalan
She learned classical Carnatic music from her mother during her childhood.
She won a gold medal in a national singing competition. She often sang on the radio and earned money.
She moved to America when she was 19 years old after getting selected for her post-graduation at the University of California, Berkeley.
Her parents paid for her first year in America through their retirement funds.
Due to the lack of a phone line in her home, Shyamala Gopalan would often communicate with her parents through an aerogramme.
In 1962, she met Donald J. Harris and found his talk at the Afro-American Association at the University of California, Berkeley interesting.
Soon they formed a friendship and got married in 1963, breaking the custom of introducing the spouse to the parents before marriage.
No one from her family was able to attend the marriage due to lack of funds for travelling.
She worked as a postdoctoral research physiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, from October 1963 to October 1966.
She worked as a visiting scientist in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois from October 1965 to September 1967.
She was a civil rights activist and would often actively participate in the protests with her husband, Donald J. Harris.
Shyamala Gopalan at a civil rights protest in Berkeley, California
She was a special research fellow at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin from October 1968 to September 1969.
She had worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a biomedical scientist, focussing her research on hormone receptors in breast cancer development.
Shyamala Gopalan in her lab at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
She worked as an Assistant Research Biochemist in the Department of Zoology and Cancer Research Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley from September 1969 to June 1974.
In 1971, she filed for divorce. After the divorce, she raised her daughters, Kamala and Maya Harris single-handedly and would often take them to her parents in Chennai, India.
Shyamala Gopalan with her daughters
In February 1983, she became an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine of McGill University in Montreal.
She had a membership in various professional societies, including, the American Association for Cancer Research American, the Society of Biological Chemists, and the International Association for Breast Cancer Research.
Her daughter, Kamala Harris has claimed that her mother had two aims in her life, to take care of her daughters and cure breast cancer.
Her work concerning the treatment of breast cancer helped advance the studies related to the issue.
The Breast Cancer Action, an activist organisation, thanked her after her death as she had asked for donations to be made for the organisation.
In 2020, Wanda Kagan, a high school friend of Kamala Harris recalled how Shyamala Gopalan helped her after she had told Kamala about her abusive stepfather.
After the death of Shyamala Gopalan in 2009, her ashes were spread in the waters of the Indian Ocean in Chennai by Kamala Harris.
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