In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Dr. Maitree Suttajit (1939–2026)

Pioneer of evidence-based vegetarianism in Asia and a founding architect of the Asian Vegetarian Union

It is with deep sorrow that the International Vegetarian Union announces the passing of Professor Emeritus Dr. Maitree Suttajit, who died peacefully on the night of 14 June 2026, at the age of 87. With his death, the global vegetarian movement loses one of its most distinguished scientific voices, and the Asia-Pacific community loses a founder, a mentor, and a dear friend.

Dr. Maitree was that rare figure in whom rigorous laboratory science and lifelong advocacy met. A biochemist, toxicologist, and nutritionist of the first rank, he devoted his career to demonstrating — through evidence rather than ideology — that a plant-based diet is among the most powerful tools we have for human health. In doing so, he helped transform Asian vegetarianism from a largely cultural and religious practice into a respected, evidence-based pillar of preventive medicine and public health.

A life rooted in science

Born in Chiang Mai on 2 March 1939, Dr. Maitree built his life on the hard sciences. He graduated with a BSc in Chemistry with Honors from Chulalongkorn University (1960) and an MSc in Biochemistry from Mahidol University (1962), before earning his PhD in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1971, under Professor Richard J. Winzler.

Returning to Thailand, he joined the Department of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, where he served as Head of Department and Associate Dean for Research until his retirement in 2000. Appointed Professor of Toxicology and Biochemistry in 1997, he was later named Professor Emeritus of Chiang Mai University. In 2010 he became Dean of the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Phayao, where he established its first undergraduate and graduate programs in nutrition and dietetics. Across a teaching career that reached students in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, dentistry, and public health, he shaped generations of Thai scientists and clinicians.

Over his lifetime he authored more than one hundred peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, and wrote and edited Thai textbooks including Environmental Toxic Substances, Food for Health, and Foods and Cancer. His research ranged across cancer chemoprevention, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, and explored the bioactive compounds of traditional Asian plant foods — from perilla and pigmented rice to medicinal herbs — extending in his later years into nutrigenomics and healthy ageing. This body of work gave the vegetarian movement something it had long needed: a rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific foundation.

A founding force within the IVU and the Asian Vegetarian Union

Dr. Maitree's bond with the International Vegetarian Union began in earnest in 1996. That year he founded and became the first president of the Chiang Mai Vegetarian Society (Veg Chiangmai), conceiving it from the outset as a body that would promote plant-based living through academic seminars, journals, and empirical research rather than appeals alone. During the society's inaugural events, IVU General Secretary Francisco Martín presented Dr. Maitree with a crystal trophy on behalf of the IVU, formally recognizing him as the movement's principal liaison in northern Thailand and binding the Thai movement to the global union.

His most enduring contribution to the IVU came in January 1999, when he served as host and principal organizer of the 33rd IVU World Vegetarian Congress in Chiang Mai, held under the theme "Vegetarianism is the Way." The congress drew delegates from around the world and wove together rigorous nutritional science and the spiritual traditions of Asia. It was at this watershed gathering that the Asian Vegetarian Union (AVU) was conceived and established — giving Asia, the historical heartland of plant-based living, its own regional body at last. Dr. Maitree was a foundational pillar of the new union, which was registered as an institutional member of the IVU in February 2000.

In 2009 he was appointed the second President of the Asian Vegetarian Union, serving until 2012, following the passing of its founding president, Mr. Jashu Bhai Shah. His presidency marked a deliberate turn toward scholarly rigor and evidence-based advocacy. Under his leadership the AVU professionalized its work and broadened its reach — presiding over the 4th Asian Vegetarian Congress in Batam (2009) and the 5th in Hangzhou (2011), and helping bridge the vegetarian societies of Southeast Asia with the fast-growing movement in mainland China. He took care to cultivate his successors, and the union he helped shape would in time grow into today's Asia Pacific Vegan Union.

Throughout these years Dr. Maitree was a familiar and respected presence on the international IVU stage: chairing academic sessions at the 37th World Vegetarian Congress in Goa (2006), where he was honored with a ceremonial garland by IVU historian John Davis; lecturing at the 39th World Vegetarian Congress in Jakarta (2010); and, well after his presidency, presenting his research on the health benefits of garlic at the Asia Pacific Vegetarian Congress in Bangkok (2015). Wherever he spoke, he carried the same conviction: that the ethical and ecological case for vegetarianism is reinforced, never replaced, by the evidence of science.

Beyond the IVU and AVU, his founding spirit also gave rise to the Thai Vegetarian Union, the Thai Centenarian Society, and the Thai Society for Free Radical Research, and he served as an editor of the Vegetarian Nutrition Journal.

Honors and recognition

Dr. Maitree's contributions were widely recognized. He received an Outstanding Teaching Award from Chiang Mai University in 1997, and in 1998 was bestowed the royal honor and insignia of "The Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand" (Mahawachiramonkut Thai). In 2009 he received the Cerebos Award for his findings on the health benefits of proanthocyanidins from red and purple rice in the prevention of diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

In 2014 he was honored with the Asia Pacific Clinical Nutrition Society Award. In his citation, Society President Professor Duo Li recognized Dr. Maitree "for his pursuit of an appreciation of the scientific basis of traditional food and medicinal usage and toxicology in the Asia Pacific region and for its peoples' health and well-being" — words that capture the whole arc of his life's work.

Tributes

Marly Winckler, Honorary President of the IVU:

With deep sorrow, I received the news of the passing of dear Dr. Maitree Suttajit. He was not only a pioneer of the vegetarian and vegan movement in Thailand, but also a kind, wise, and deeply committed human being whose work touched countless lives. Dr. Maitree dedicated his life to promoting compassion, nonviolence, and a more conscious way of living. His legacy will continue through all the people he inspired, educated, and encouraged over the years.

I feel honored to have known him and to have shared the global vegetarian movement with such a remarkable soul. May his journey continue in peace and light. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and all members of the Thai International Vegetarian Association. Rest in peace, dear Dr. Maitree.

Dr. C. V. Jayanthy, IVU Counselor:

Professor Emeritus Dr. Maitree Suttajit was one of Thailand's most distinguished nutrition scientists, educators, and advocates of plant-based living. Throughout his career, he worked tirelessly to bridge the fields of nutrition science, medicine, public health, and vegetarian advocacy, leaving a lasting impact both in Thailand and internationally.

As a champion of evidence-based vegetarian advocacy, Dr. Maitree emphasized that vegetarianism should be promoted through sound scientific research rather than ideology alone. His efforts helped bring credibility and academic recognition to the vegetarian movement throughout Asia. His legacy continues to inspire scientists, healthcare professionals, educators, and vegetarian advocates around the world. His life's work demonstrated that science, health, sustainability, and compassion can work together to create a better future for humanity and the planet.

Paul Narula, on behalf of BIVA (Bangkok International Vegan Alliance):

A person that departs this earth never truly leaves, for they are still alive in our hearts and minds; through us, they live on. Please accept condolences from BIVA. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Paul Narula, who founded Thailand's first non-religious vegan club in Bangkok in 1991 — known today as BIVA — recalled how he later encouraged Dr. Maitree to establish a vegetarian and vegan club in Chiang Mai, traveling north every month for two full years to support the founding of the Vegetarian Club of Chiang Mai. Elected to the IVU International Board in 1996, he joined hands with Dr. Maitree and the Chiang Mai team to bring the World Vegetarian Congress to Thailand, successfully hosted in Chiang Mai in 1999.

A lasting legacy

Dr. Maitree Suttajit will be remembered as a scientist who lent the vegetarian movement his intellect and his integrity, and as a teacher who gave it his patience and his heart. He proved, across decades of research and advocacy, that compassion and science are not separate pursuits but partners — that the case for a kinder, healthier, more sustainable way of living rests on solid ground.

His legacy endures in the institutions he helped build, in the hundreds of students and researchers he mentored, and in every advocate who now speaks for plant-based living with the confidence of evidence behind them.

The International Vegetarian Union extends its heartfelt condolences to Dr. Maitree's family, to his colleagues and students, and to the vegetarian and vegan communities of Thailand and the world who were so enriched by his life.

Rest in peace, dear Dr. Maitree.