Priya J Wickramaratne

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Priya Wickramaratne who departed from this life on September 24, 2025, at the age of 82. Priya Wickramaratne passed away peacefully in Phoenix, AZ, surrounded by her loving family. Born on March 18, 1943, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Priya was the beloved second child of Felix and Dorothy Wickramaratne. 

From a young age, Priya fell in love with education, but especially mathematics and statistics. Her father Felix was a statistician, and Priya, who held great love and respect for her father, decided to pursue the same field of study. Priya left Sri Lanka for America in the 1960s to live with her aunt, Lena Wickramaratne, in Palo Alto, California. Aunty Lena encouraged her to get a master’s degree at Stanford University, where she received a full scholarship and graduated with a Master of Science degree in 1970. After working for a while, Priya eventually felt the call to do more study and attended Yale University, again on scholarship, receiving her Ph.D. in 1984. Priya worked a few years as a post doc at Yale, and in the corporate world, but was eventually recruited to work as a Professor in Biostatistics at Columbia University. 

Priya’s love for academic life and Academia remained for her entire life. She is remembered for her distinguished career as a professor of statistics at Columbia University, where she was also cross-appointed to the role of Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute for nearly 35 years. Priya made significant contributions in the field of depression research and was always on the cutting edge of the latest statistical and methodological approaches. Her expertise was widely appreciated, cited, and recognized. She published hundreds of papers in top-tier peer-reviewed scientific journals, and was invited to serve as an Editor-at-Large for Methodology and Statistics for the renowned Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Near the end of her career, she served as the Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded grant on electronic health records. She was highly respected by colleagues and peers. 

Priya will be forever known for her social and amicable personality, her professional reputation, and her love of fashion and personal style. Priya called Colombo, Sri Lanka and New Haven, CT home, but no matter where in the world she was, she kept in touch with her friends and family along the way. Priya will be dearly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her. She was a respected colleague, generous aunt, and kind friend. 

Priya leaves behind her two sisters Nimal (Joseph) Vaz and Rupa Wickramaratne, three nieces, Manjula and Amali Vaz and Anusha Moore, and grand nieces, Anjali and Paris Moore. May Priya rest in eternal peace.

 A memorial service will be held on November 29, 2025, at 11:00am at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Parish, 8620 N 7th St, Phoenix, AZ.