Sivathanu Subramania Pillai was an ENT surgeon in Sunderland. He was born in Nagercoil, India, on 30 November 1925 to Sivathanu Pillai and Marthandalakshmi née Muthukaruppan. He was educated at St Francis Primary School and the Scott Christian College in Nagercoil. Deciding to follow a career in medicine, he entered Madras Medical College, where he won an anatomy prize and qualified in 1950. He decided to move to the UK, where he elected to pursue a surgical career. He worked at the County Hospital, Colchester, the Ipswich General Hospital, the Shotley Bridge General Hospital, the County and Dryburn hospitals in Durham, and the Odstock Hospital, Salisbury, before being appointed as a consultant ENT surgeon to the Royal Infirmary and General Hospital in Sunderland. He also served the Durham community (child care) clinic. In 1963 he married Mary, a former nurse. They had three children, two daughters and a son. He died on 5 January 2009, aged 83.