CHICAGO, Ill. — John Bhagwan Das, 85, died at home on July 9.

He was born in Madurai, India, Aug. 26, 1926. He was educated in Madurai and Madras. In 1949, he received his M.D. from the University of Madras and he completed his surgical residency in 1951.

In 1951, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh and London). He practiced as a thoracic surgeon in the United Kingdom and Trinidad. In 1962, he immigrated with his wife and two sons to the United States for graduate work at MIT, where he received his Ph.D. in 1967.

The remaining 30 years of his career were devoted to pediatric surgical research at Boston Children’s Hospital, Detroit Children’s Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago from which he retired as director of pediatric research in 1997.

His research helped to better the lives of many children and adults, and is testimony to all the contributions that immigrants bring to this country. He was a man of great erudition and broad learning who believed that both the arts and the sciences could illuminate the human condition.

He had a great love for Maine and enjoyed visiting his grandchildren of whom he was inordinately proud. He regretted not being able to make a final visit to Maine.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lakshmi (Menon); sons, Anthony,

and wife, Nan Ducklow, of Mt. Jackson, Va., and David, and wife, Jane Costlow, of Auburn; grandchildren, Dinesh of Boulder, Colo., and Leah of Santa Fe, N.M.; and brothers, Anthony Mitra of Chennai, India, and Thomas Sathy of Pune, India.