Where Head Meets Heart

Ask those who knew him, and they’ll tell you: Ryan Kotaro Meher ’05 was an eternal optimist—a Renaissance thinker rooted in the humanities and unafraid of the new.

To him, science and technology were never the destination—they were tools to uplift and serve others. Now, his legacy of compassion, curiosity and connection lives on through a newly established scholarship at Pomona College, created to support future students who share those same values.

At Pomona and across The Claremont Colleges, Meher paired head and heart, standing out for his ability to bridge worlds between disciplines and people. He sampled widely, from comparative religion and the spirituality of yoga to media studies and computer science. He became a resident assistant at Smiley Hall and was known for learning everybody’s name. His father, Rich, says there were many calls home during which Meher paused mid-sentence to greet passing friends or wave out of his ground-floor residence hall window.

Ramona Meher, Ryan’s mother, sees this openness as an outgrowth of his character and education. “Partly it was Ryan’s nature,” she says. “And partly it was Pomona, which emboldens its students to become the best versions of themselves.”

After graduating in 2005, Meher went on to braid together a life of intellect and service. In Chicago, he taught video game design to teens at Alternatives, a nonprofit supporting youth with limited access to resources. His students not only learned to code and create playable games but also used early QR tools to map out where to find fresh food in their neighborhoods. All the while, he never stopped pursuing new knowledge.

“Quantum physics, neurobiology, the microbiome—you name it, he was always learning,” says his sister, Robin Meher. “If we ever had a question about anything, Ryan could break it down in a way that made sense. He was brilliant, yet humble. He spoke to people’s souls.”

At home, Meher was a devoted husband and father. He delighted in his young son’s curiosity, trading dinosaur talk for Greek mythology, sketching DNA strands for fun and encouraging big questions about the world. In Meher’s free time, he chased adventures, running the Chicago Marathon, climbing in Yosemite National Park and gathering with Pomona alumni in Joshua Tree.

“Pomona is magic in the way it connects people,” Rich Meher says. “Those friendships meant the world to Ryan, and they never stopped showing up for one another.”

When Ryan Meher passed away unexpectedly at the age of 42 in August 2024, his family sought a way to honor him. The result was the creation of a scholarship in his name, designed to support Pomona students who are intellectually bold, socially conscious and committed to building community wherever they go.

“Ryan Kotaro Meher’s life is a beautiful reflection of what we hope for every Pomona graduate—a mind alive with curiosity and a heart open to others,” Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr says. “We are profoundly grateful to the Meher family for honoring Ryan in a way that will open doors for future students.”

In an era when the value of the liberal arts is often questioned, the family says they see this scholarship as both a tribute and a statement. “STEM matters, but not without the humanities,” Rich Meher says. “What makes us human—our ethics, empathy and imagination—should hold everything else. Pomona nurtured that in Ryan, and we want that to continue for generations to come.”

If there was a common thread running through Meher’s life, it was inclusion. Robin Meher says that her brother carried a rare empathy for those overlooked or misunderstood, and he made it his mission to notice and uplift people on the margins. That is the spirit they hope future scholarship recipients will inherit.

“You never know what will help you—or help someone else—on the day it matters,” says Ramona Meher.