My father, Kopalapillai Mahadeva, who has died aged 89, was a scholar of production engineering and management whose self-discipline and determination into his 80s was inspiring.
Kopalapillai, known as Kopan to his friends, was born in Madduvil South, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), to Kanthar Kopalapillai, an industrialist, and Ramanathar (nee Ponnammah). His mother died of complications in childbirth when Kopan was four, and his father of tuberculosis six years later, so Kopan and his two brothers were brought up by an aunt and uncle. At Jaffna central college, he met Seethadevi Muthucumarasamy, whom he married in 1960. He read engineering at the University of Ceylon, after which he served as an engineer in the public works department and the army (1955-61).
Kopan and Seetha then embarked on the ocean liner Oriana to pursue postgraduate studies in the UK. In 1962, Kopan obtained an MSc in engineering production and management from the University of Birmingham, followed by a PhD in engineering production (operational research).
The couple returned to Colombo in 1966 and set up home in a converted factory, where Kopan founded the Mite (Management, Industry, Technology and Engineering) Organisation. He served as director of UN-ILO’s Ceylon Small Industry Service Institute and, as chairman of Mite, won the prestigious contracts of Jaffna and Chunnakam model markets, which stand today as thriving examples of what at that time was a new architectural type, modern in construction and design.
Kopan rejoined the University of Birmingham as honorary research fellow in the department of engineering production (1978-1980). He then became professor in production engineering and management at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad (1980-84), where, in 1981, he was one of the organisers of the Commonwealth Engineers conference. Returning to Birmingham in 1984, Kopan took up the post of visiting research professor in advanced manufacturing technology at the city’s polytechnic (later the University of Central England) until 1993.
He also published extensively, on topics ranging from engineering and technology to poetry and drama. His first poetry book, The Pearly Island and Other Poems, was published in Sri Lanka in 1974, and from 1990 he turned to writing and publishing full-time, founding Century House Poets and Century House Publications, a non-profit enterprise publishing first-edition works.
Kopan and Seetha moved from Erdington, Birmingham, in 2002 to live in retirement in Harrow, Greater London. In 2006, with a circle of Tamil literary friends, they co-founded Eelavar Literature Academy of Britain, editing and publishing books in English and Tamil. Reviving his early interest in scriptwriting, Kopan also directed and acted in short Tamil films, and landed an acting role in the soap series Stella (2017).
After Seetha died in 2013, Kopan persevered with his writing and used social media to maintain contact with friends and family.
Kopan is survived by his son, Lavan, his daughters, Usha, Ula and me, and his granddaughters, Amalia and Kamala.
