Dr Kishore Kumar Theckedath, a rare and remarkable combination of an intellectual, organiser and leader, passed away in Mumbai on the night of December 20, 2025 at the age of 89. He was a former member of the CPI(M) Maharashtra State Secretariat; played a pivotal role in organising college and university teachers in Mumbai and Maharashtra; was detained for 15 months during the Emergency from 1975-77; and was a renowned Marxist thinker, writer and teacher.He is survived by his wife Shobha, their younger son Dhananjay (their elder son Devtosh unfortunately passed away in 2017 due to cancer) and other family members. Theckedath’s funeral was held near his home in Borivli, Mumbai on December 21.Theckedath’s family hailed from Perinjanam village in the Thrissur district of Kerala, but he was born and brought up in Mumbai. His father was a textile mill worker in the Dhanraj Mills and his mother was a home maker. Theckedath was born on November 8, 1936, did his BSc in physics and mathematics, MSc in both pure and applied mathematics, and much later in 1987 he completed his PhD titled ‘Dialectical Materialism and Modern Science, with special reference to the Theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics’. But despite all his erudition, Theckedath was always very proud of his working-class roots.He first joined state government service as a clerk. After his first MSc in 1958, he taught in various schools and colleges. From 1965, was taught at the famous Wilson College in Mumbai for 30 years, until he took voluntary retirement in 1994. He was always a much-loved teacher.Theckedath was among the founder members of the Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTU) in 1966. He put in tremendous efforts to build the college teachers’ movement in Mumbai by personally visiting several colleges regularly, meeting teachers, learning about their problems and organising them to fight against injustice. He was elected without a break to the BUCTU Executive Committee for half a century from 1966 to 2016. He was elected BUCTU General Secretary for over a decade from 1974, and later as the union’s president.In 1975, he was elected the founder General Secretary of the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (MFUCTO), and later its president for many years. He was also elected president of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (AIFUCTO) in 1987.Many valiant teachers’ struggles were collectively led during those years against the injustice done by the managements of various universities and colleges, and against the educational policies of the then Congress-led Union and state governments (policies which pale in comparison with the disastrous atrocities on education being perpetrated today by the BJP-led Union and state governments). Theckedath was always a staunch and inveterate opponent of the RSS, BJP and Sangh parivar. This was evident in all his writings and public speeches, and in his interventions in party forums.He played a key role in the united teachers’ movement in Mumbai and Maharashtra. He took the lead in bringing together various teachers’ organisations. He was one of the founders of the Coordination Committee of the Teachers of Bombay (CCTOB) in 1977. Under his leadership, the BUCTU and MFUCTO became active participants in the united trade union movement and the employees’ movement.Theckedath was ideologically attracted to Marxism after studying the work of J.B.S. Haldane, a scientist of international fame, who was a Marxist. He joined the CPI(M) in 1966 after his contact and discussions with senior party leaders P.B. Rangnekar and M.V. Gopalan. The first state secretary of the CPI(M) in Maharashtra, S.Y. Kolhatkar, was his mentor.He was elected to the party’s Mumbai district committee in 1977, the state committee in 1982, and then to the state secretariat in 2012. He was a special invitee to the state committee till his demise. His contribution to the party was valuable and multi-faceted.Theckedath also had several books and articles to his credit, including A First Course in Marxist Economic Theory; Dialectics, Relativity and Quantum; and Frederick Engels and Modern Science. His articles have been published in journals like The Marxist and Social Scientist.He was the vice president of the Kerala People’s Education Society, which has been running the large Adarsh Vidyalaya in Mumbai for several decades.I was fortunate to have had an extremely close political and personal relationship with Theckedath for the last 47 years, ever since I joined the party in 1978. He was in charge of the Mumbai Students’ Party Branch, of which I was first a member and then the Branch Secretary. I feel happy that he was elected to the party’s state secretariat during my tenure as the party’s state secretary. Numerous are the fond memories I have of this wonderful comrade and human being, which, alas, have to be withheld due to constraints of space.Ashok Dhawale is the president of the All India Kisan Sabha.