An Ohio State professor and his wife died in the Dec. 26 tsunami in Asia that claimed more than 139,000 lives, according to an MSNBC report.

Chemistry department professor emeritus Muttaiya Sundaralingam and his wife, Indrani, were vacationing in Sri Lanka, the story said.

Accompanying the Upper Arlington couple were their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, also from the Columbus area. However, they stayed at a hotel further inland and were unharmed.

Although Sundaralingam, 73, retired from OSU in December 2002, he continued to be involved in DNA research. He also published an article in the journal Biochemistry last month, his obituary said.

Sundaralingam received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. His scientific career focused primarily on X-ray crystallography research. According to his obituary, he held positions at a number of prestigious schools including the University of Washington-Seattle, Harvard University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oxford University.

Sundaralingam joined OSU in 1990. He was named Ohio Regents Eminent Scholar and professor in the departments of chemistry and biochemistry. He also served as the director of the Biological Macromolecular Structure Center.

“I think that (Sundaralingam’s) major impact was the teaching of students, the future generation,” said chemistry department chair Prabir Dutta. “His research area was one of the most important because it brought together chemistry, biochemistry and medicine.”

Dutta said Sundaralingam’s research expertise would be difficult to find in another professor.

As a distinguished researcher, Sundaralingam had more than 350 papers and two books published, according to his obituary. He received many awards and honors throughout his career, such as the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award.

Sundaralingam’s sons, Mohan and Rohan, said the family is continuing to grieve.

“Though the sudden and tragic loss of both of our parents by this massive, unforeseen force of nature is extremely painful for us, we can only be comforted by the thoughts that our parents perished together in the island that they knew as their homeland,” they said.