Mohindar Pal Puri died on February 6th, 2026, of heart failure. He was 96 years of age. Known as Paul, he was a long-term resident of Acton, Massachusetts, where he lived for more than 50 years. He was born 1st February 1930, 4th of 7 children, in the market town of Garhdiwala, in the fertile lands of what was then East Punjab, India, to Mr. Gurdas Ram Puri and Mrs. Mayawanti Puri (née Tandon). The Puri clan was large and prosperous, having estates of grain and fruit, with many a son working in government or the Indian Navy. Paul was a keen sportsman in his youth, playing cricket and field hockey and running cross country.

In 1945, he began studies in Math and Engineering at the University of Punjab, which were interrupted by the death of his father in the violence that engulfed Punjab in Partition of India in 1947. His father was killed while speaking out against sectarian hatred, an event which left the young Paul with a lifelong sense of social justice.

Paul then joined the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi to study Radio Engineering in 1948. His first job was with the Indian Aeronautical Communication Service, where he was mainly engaged in the installation and commissioning of radio communication and navigational facilities at various airports in India.

After 5 years, he resigned his position and sailed for England for further education and professional training, arriving in London on 1st March,1954. He studied Telecommunications Engineering and Physics at Northern Polytechnic and Enfield Technical College (University of London) and took post-graduate courses in Microwave Physics. While studying, Paul worked as a research engineer at Cossor Radar and Electronics in London, and in 1960 joined General Electric Company where he set up and led the Travelling Wave Tubes (TWTs) department.

In 1967 he accepted a job with RCA in New Jersey. He won several awards at RCA for his inventions in TWTs and microwave physics and set up innovative graduate courses for the company's young engineers. In 1975, his lab was sold to Raytheon Corporation in Waltham, Massachusetts, and he moved the family to Acton, which was to become his permanent home. At Raytheon he rose to be Manager of the Linear Beam Device Group, Microwave Tube Operation, and was internationally renowned for his innovative research and product development in radar communications. He enjoyed long lasting collaborations and friendships with colleagues in France and Japan, where he visited often. When he retired in the early 1990s, he set up his own consulting company and worked till the age of 70.

While working in England, he met his wife Ilse Merten-Feddeler, at the Linguist Club, a famous social rendezvous for foreigners in London at the time. She was a vivacious and accomplished multilingual business administrator from Germany. They shared the trauma of losing their fathers in violent times and the hopes of a new age of peace and opportunities. They enjoyed classical music concerts in London and the botanic gardens and parks. They were married in 1963 and had three children in London before moving to the US in 1967. Their fourth child was born a year later.

A traveller all his life, Paul and Ilse visited many countries on six continents when they retired. They especially liked Thailand, India, Australia and New Zealand. Paul enjoyed walking on the beach in the early morning and a cold-water swim in the sea. He loved gardening and his forested yard in Massachusetts. He was a keen photographer, of flowers and landscapes, in particular. He was a collector of Indian and Western classical music, and an audiophile with an exacting ear. He followed current affairs, reading the New York Times every day and loved reading history and classic literature. He appreciated the fine arts, Indian silk carpets and Scandinavian furniture. As a student in London, he learned to cook for himself, and this developed into a lifelong passion and one of his most important creative outlets. His cooking was said to be delicate, nuanced and multilayered, whether Indian curries or European dishes. Friends and family agreed that he could have been a Michelin chef if he wanted to. He also collected wine and in his later years enjoyed a glass of red at 4 pm every day. While he seldom returned to India, he kept in touch with the family there, and over the years many of his and later generations came to the US to study, work or visit. They remember with fondness his warm welcome and generous advice, and of course his sumptuous cooking.

Paul leaves behind his spouse of 63 years, Ilse Puri (née Merten-Feddeler), his children, Rajindra Kumar Puri, Sunita Rani Lasdow, Anya Puri Brunnick, and Robin Paul Puri, and grandchildren, Addyson Nash Puri, Lilly Brunnick, Haroun Hameed and Malik Vallo.

A private family service was held at Dee Funeral Home in Concord, and a Celebration of Life will take place in the Spring.

Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.