KOCHI: Freedom fighter and scientist Vyloppilli Balakrishna Menon (100) passed away here on Monday. He died at 4 pm yesterday due to age-related diseases at Thekke Cheruppilli House in Kaloor's Cheruppilli Road.

He was born in 1921 in Kaloor, as the sixth of six sons of Vyloppilly Kunjikuttyamma and T Subbaram Iyer. He holds a BSc from the Maharaja of Ernakulam and an MSc and a PhD from Allahabad University. He did his research in Marine Biology with a UNESCO Scholarship at the University of Bourbon in Paris. After graduation, he worked as a scientist at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. He retired as Professor Emeritus.

In 1942, while studying at the Maharaja's, he took part in the Quit India Movement and was imprisoned for eight months. He was lodged in Viyyur Central Jail along with Panampilly Govindamenon, Ikkanda Warrier and C Achutha Menon.

Poet Vyloppilly Sreedharan Menon is the son of his mother's sister.

Wife: The late Cheruppilli Satheerathanam. Children: Sreedevi (Retd. Insurance Company Officer, Muscat), Geetha (Bahrain), Sivaram (Business), TC Krishna (Senior Central Govt. Counsel). Son-in-law: Sasidharan (Retd. English Teacher), Venugopalan (Engineer, Bahrain), Manjula (Central Excise Chief Administrative Officer), Dr Bindu (Homeo doctor). The funeral will be at 11.30 am today at Pachalam Cemetery with official honours.