Obituary of Ila Das

Das, ILA (August 25, 1946 to July 25, 2026, aged 79) of Massapequa, NY. Ila was the first born daughter of an Indian diplomat, Nirmal Chandra Kanjilal, and a homemaker, Arati Mukherjee. She was born in the "Gol Park" section of Calcutta, India during the curfews of the communal riots between Muslims and Hindus. This led to her having the nickname "Karfu" by her family. Ila would spend a good portion of her childhood growing up in foreign countries that her father was stationed in to include Bangladesh (where her ancestral home is from) and the Netherlands. She would also spend some of her time at Alliance Francais schools where she would be exposed to French language at a young age. By the time her family had settled in the Bengali colony of Chittaranjan Park in New Delhi, India, Ila was getting ready for her higher education studies at the elite Presidency College in Calcutta. From there, she applied for graduate school in the United States and was admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as her first introduction to the United States. After one semester, Ila transferred to New York University where she would eventually graduate with a Masters degree in Journalism.

It was in New York City where she met her future husband Pranab Das. They would marry in March 1976 and live in the Woodhaven section of Queens, NY for several years. This is where they had their only child, Arnab (born May 12, 1980). During the winter of 1982, Ila and her family would move to Edison, NJ as one of the first families of Indian descent there before it would eventually become the town with the highest concentration of Indian-Americans in North America. Despite having several administrative jobs over her years in Edison, Ila primarily was a homemaker during her time living there. In 1991, Ila and Arnab would move to Calcutta while Pranab remained back in NJ to attempt to sell the house. After not wielding a decent offer during the economic recession at the time, she and Arnab moved back to Edison where they lived until 1994.

 Ila eventually relaunched her career with the City of New York in various agencies including the Housing Preservation and Development agency (HPD), the Human Resources Administration (HRA), before eventually finishing her professional career with NYC's Department of Education in 2004 where she took early retirement due to health issues of a failing kidney. During this time, they lived in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn in 1995 before eventually settling in the Grymes Hill section of Staten Island, NY in 1996 where they remained in the same house for about 35 years. After selling the house and temporarily relocating to an apartment in Grymes Hill, she and Pranab would eventually settle in Massapequa, NY in 2025 to be closer to her son and his family. It was here she would eventually pass.

Throughout her life Ila was known by those around her to be very dogmatic, intellectual, traditional, and animated. She believed in standing up for her principles unabashedly even when they were unpopular or made people uncomfortable.

She is survived by her husband Pranab Kumar Das (Age 79), son Arnab Das (age 46), and her grandchildren Alia Das (age 7), Deven Das (age 4) and Lila Das (age 2). Her surviving siblings and family include Gautam Kanjilal, Gautam's wife Banani, their daughter Rusha and Rusha's son Ronin all of New Delhi, India as well as her brother Ron Kanjilal of Seattle, WA, (sister Gargi Sengupta and Gargi's husband Surajit and their sons Josh and Avik of San Jose, CA, and her youngest brother Robin Kanjilal of Staten Island, NY and Robin's son Aarush of Bethesda, MD

Visiting William E. Law Funeral Home, 1 Jerusalem Ave., Massapequa, NY on Wednesday July 29th, from 4-7 p.m.  Cremation LI Cremation Co., Inc., 91 Eads St., West Babylon, NY on Friday at 12 p.m.  www.williamlawfh.com