Obituary for Manju Bhattacharyya

Manju was born on January 2, 1943 in Kolkata, India, the youngest daughter of Dr. Bankim Chandra Bhattacharjee and Mrs. Kalyani Bhattacharjee (neé Ray Mahasaya). Manju was married to Dr. Satya Deb Bhattacharyya on February 23, 1965 in Kolkata, India. They were married for 38 years until his passing on March 22, 2003.

Manju was a plant biologist by training, earning her doctorate in botany with an emphasis on plant pathology from the University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India. She had a lifelong love of science, plants, and animals of all kinds, most especially cats. Manju was also a talented musician, playing the Indian instruments sitar and sarod, and loved learning languages—all gifts and passions she passed on to and nurtured in her children. Manju loved her children immensely, always making sure they had home cooked meals despite working 80 hours a week (until the very end, she would always offer part of her meals to her children to make sure they were healthy and taken care of, a testament to a core desire of wanting everyone to always have enough to eat). Despite various challenges throughout her life and sacrificing many of her own personal dreams and ambitions to immigrate to the United States, Manju and her husband Satya Deb did everything they could to help their children have educational opportunities and choices to allow them to live good, happy lives. Manju was a loving mother, mentor, guide, and quiet force of inspiration to both her immediate and extended family.

Remaining to cherish Manju’s memory are her son Joydeb Bhattacharyya (Yu-Lien Chu), daughter Paula Bhattacharyya, and son Basudeb Bhattacharyya (Margaret Smith); her nieces and nephews Jaya Chakrovorty (Manas Chakrovorty), Gouri Mookerjee, Mala Mahali, Subroto Bhattacharya (Sangeeta Bhattacharya), Bani Chokrovorty (Dibyendu Chakrabarty), Gautam Bhattacharyya (Nandini Bhattacharyya), and Debashish Bhattacharyya (Jaime Bhattacharyya),as well as many grandnieces, grandnephews, great grandnieces, and great grandnephews.

Preceding Manju in death are her parents Dr. Bankim Chandra Bhattacharjee and Mrs. Kalyani Bhattacharjee, her husband Dr. Satya Deb Bhattacharyya, and her two older sisters Nilima Bhattacharya and Anima Bhattacharyya.

Visitation will be held on Sunday July 20, 2025 from 10-11 am at Frederickson Funeral Homes in La Crosse with Jagadish Acharya Shastreejee officiating.

The family would like to send a special thanks to medical staff at UW Health in Madison and Gundersen Health Systems in La Crosse as well as staff at Hillview Health Care Center for providing care and support for our mom during these last few years to make her life as comfortable and pleasant as it could be. In lieu of gifts or flowers to the family, donations or other gestures of support to Hillview Health Care Center in La Crosse, a local food pantry, or truly to any cause helping people/animals which you care about would all be most welcome and appreciated.

Online condolences may be offered at this site.