Neilkunal Panchal's Obituary
On Wednesday, April 8, 2020, Neilkunal Panchal, loving husband to Chumkee Aziz and son of Gita and Sudhir Panchal, passed away at the age of 34.
Neil was born June 29, 1985 in London, England. He attended Peterhouse College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied astrophysics. He obtained his engineering doctorate at Cranfield University. He was hard working and driven, and these qualities, in addition to his intelligence, led Neil to rise quickly in professional success. He began his career at Schlumberger, where he worked in abroad and developed many close friendships that he held dear. Neil went on to join Shell Global, where he pioneered work in three dimensional drilling, which became patented in the USA, and he continued there by developing AI-assisted geosteering. He eventually joined Quantum Black of McKinsey & Co as a principal data scientist. He worked with Rice University as a mentor for post-doctoral students and as an adjunct professor, as well.
Outside of work, Neil was passionate about flying, cooking and advocating for eco-conservation. He was an avid watcher of history documentaries and was also deeply committed to helping others in their careers and professional learning experiences. He was known for his warm smile and generosity. Neil’s final act was to give the gift of life through organ donation. Neil is survived by not only his wife and parents, but also his paternal grandmother (Vidya-ba), and many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins.
The funeral service for Kunal will be held on April 16, 2020 at 10:00am CST. Because of COVID-19, the service is limited to immediate family. To honour Neil’s memory in ways that support others, please consider making a donation to Mpala Research Centre or Revolution Robotics Foundation.
For more information on Mpala Research Center, visit https://mpala.org/. Donations can be made to Mpala via the following paypal link: https://mpala.org/centre/rates/
To learn more about and to donate to Revolution Robotics, please use the following link, and be sure to write in Neil’s name in the "optional note." section: https://revolutionrobotics.org/pages/donate
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