Savita Nair

 Savita Nair was born on December 10th, 1967 in Jamshedpur, India to Narayan and Shanta Nair. On November 1st, 2024 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, she passed peacefully, surrounded by her husband, daughters, mother, and sister, as was her wish. Savita was a loving, kind, honest, brilliant, dedicated, other-centered, beautiful soul. She was 56.

Savita spent her early years in Hyderabad, India. On May 30, 1971, her father moved to Baltimore, Maryland, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, to work for General Electric as an engineer. On September 24, 1971, after her father established their Baltimore household, Savita arrived with her mother. She was 3 years old and fluent in 3 languages. In 1972, her younger sister Priya was born.

The family relocated to Schenectady, New York in 1977. As a student at Niskayuna High School ‘85, Savita was active with Niskayuna Inter-Community Service, volunteered at Proctors Theater and Ellis Hospital, and enjoyed participating in school performances. After high school, Savita moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend Carnegie Mellon University and double majored in History and Psychology. There she met her guitar-playing, loving husband of 31 years, John Carroll. After college, they both found work in New York City, Savita with Springer Verlag publishing company. She enjoyed having her first city apartment and loved the view from her office window in the iconic Flatiron Building. She was so proud of her two years in New York — the start of her adult life — but her intellectual curiosity compelled her to pursue higher studies. In 1992, Savita was accepted into a PhD History program at the University of Pennsylvania.

After years of dating, Savita and John married in 1993 and they soon began a family, welcoming their eldest, Anjali, into the world in 1995. Upon completion of her coursework, and with 9-month-old Anjali in tow, the young couple set off to Bombay (Mumbai), India for Savita’s PhD field research. Thanks to the newly passed Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), her husband was able to join the adventure while on family leave. Returning months later, Savita continued work on her dissertation and eventually welcomed two more daughters into the world - Mira in 1998 and Leila in 2001. Amid the challenges of being a young mother, Savita conducted transformative research on India and overseas migration, which brought her to Mumbai, Porbandar, and Ahmedabad– and later Kampala, Nairobi, London, and Dublin. In her work, she challenged the rigidity of borders, explored myths of common past and shared origin, and researched territorial sovereignty.

Between 1999 and 2002, Savita held teaching positions at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Eager to share her knowledge with students, she relocated with her young family from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts for the assignments. During her time in South Hadley, she forged lasting bonds with many wonderful students and colleagues.

In 2003, she accepted a position at Furman University and boldly moved the family to South Carolina. She taught courses in both the History and Asian Studies Departments and co-founded Furman’s study away program in India. She was also instrumental in growing and developing the Women’s Studies concentration into the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at the university, a project very close to her heart, and served as its first Director. Over her twenty years as a professor at Furman, she taught and advised thousands of students who felt seen, respected, and challenged by her. These deep relationships with students as well as her commitment to the university are reflected in the various awards she received: the Meritorious Advising Award in 2009, the Meritorious Teaching Award in 2014, the Cherie Maiden Invitational Award for her contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2023, and the Jim Smart Award for Vocational Reflection in 2024. For her many accomplishments and contributions to the university, she was also named the James B. Duke Professor of Asian Studies and History (a term appointment) from 2014-2017 and the Gordon Poteat Professor of Asian Studies and History (a lifetime appointment) in 2022. Upon retirement from Furman, the Board of Trustees granted her emeritus status, the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member.

In 2020 and 2021 she refused to let the pandemic, surgeries, or medical treatments affect her work. She continued to teach via Zoom throughout that time and never missed a class. She retired from teaching at the end of 2023 after deciding to focus full-time on her health and on spending time with her loved ones.

Above all her accomplishments, she is proudest of the loving family that she and her husband, John, created. She showed her children unbridled love and warmth and inspired them to work hard for the people and principles that they care about. Her spirit remains the heart of the family. She balanced work and home with incredible facility. She utilized her organizational skills to manage transporting three daughters to different schools and myriad after-school pursuits. She cooked incredible meals and hosted lively dinner parties. She always cheered the loudest at her girls’ performances and helped them to forge life-long memories whether traveling the world or dancing in their living room.

She demonstrated to her daughters that there is no limit to the sacrifices she was willing to make for her family. She loved being surrounded by family including the large family that she married into. She has done her part and has prepared her children to continue that calling – each in their own way.

She practiced a deep, quiet spirituality that was not limited by man-made divisions among people. She enjoyed ritual and ceremony and was equally comfortable in a Hindu temple, Franciscan monastery, or any sacred space. She understood that it is a state of mind and heart that invites the sacred – not a specific location or ritual.

She greatly enjoyed her brief retirement, though it did require some adjustment. She took pleasure in volunteering for Meals on Wheels when not traveling, making new friends, reaching out to old ones, and keeping up with all the activities of her daughters and extended family. As she adapted to retirement she seemed increasingly filled with love and joy, and her smile, as always, would light up a room. It gave her immeasurable joy that she was able to attend her second daughter’s wedding in October and welcome a new family into hers. Right up to her last days, what she valued most was time with her loved ones, and making sure they were well cared for. 

Savita was predeceased by her father Narayan Nair on August 1st, 2024. She is survived by her mother Shanta Nair, husband John Carroll, three daughters: Anjali, Mira, and Leila Carroll, two sons-in-law: Spencer Tricker and Nick Natale, sister Priya Gebo, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, nieces, and nephews.

Donations in Savita’s name can be made to Meals on Wheels, Safe Harbor, and Neighborhood Cancer Connection.

The family held a private service for Savita immediately after her passing. The public celebration of life will be held at Furman University Daniel Chapel in Greenville, SC on Saturday, November 23rd at 3:00pm.

Updates can be found here: https://www.supportnow.org/savita-nair