S. Subbarayalu did his Forestry from the University of Edinburg served in the Indian Forest Service and retired as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. He was the Chief Wildlife Warden in Tamilnadu, and the founder Director of Aringar Anna Zoological Park Chennai. His passion for Botany got him to write and publish his book ‘Endangered plant species of Tamilnadu’ in 1999, that is today a source of reference for the ardent botanist.
Subbarayalu is a managing committee member of the 108-year-old Santana Dharma Vidyasala, Alappuzha, which owns and manages several educational institutions co-founded by his grandfather and father. The pioneering work of these two eminent personalities was earlier captured by Subbarayalu in a book titled ‘Doyens of Education’.
After a painstaking study of over six years covering archives in India and abroad, he traces the pioneering Forest Conservancy efforts of Dr. F. C. Cleghorn in his book titled ‘Dr. H. F .C. Cleghorn, Founder of Forest Conservancy in India’ .