Suresh Kalyanji Desai

Suresh Kalyanji Desai, 91, of Charlotte, NC passed away on January 27, 2021 at his home with his family at his side. He was born July 6, 1929 in the small town of Pipalghaban, Gujarat in India. He was the son of Kalyanji Desai and Kamala Desai. Suresh held a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University and worked in the power industry for Gilbert Commonwealth. In India, he ran his own engineering firm for 10 years in Mumbai before immigrating to the USA for further education. As a young student, he scored first in the state of Gujarat in the matriculation exam and second in India and attended Pune College of Engineering. He was an avid reader who loved movies, exercise, computers, technology, the music of K.L. Saigal and Pankag Malik and traveling extensively and internationally with his wife. In addition to English, he spoke Gujarati, Hindi, French, German and studied Russian. He loved architecture and frequently took his family to interesting bridges and Frank Lloyd Wright houses on family vacations. He was most delighted to see Robie house in south Chicago. Suresh was a loving father, husband and grandfather and was loved by a large extended family and many friends. He was gentle, kind, wise, an independent thinker who believed in hard work and education and was, above all, a man of integrity. He met his beautiful bride on Christmas Day, 1958 and always celebrated that date with her each year. They were married for 61 years. He is survived by his wife, Anjani Desai, his son, Dr. Niraj Desai, his daughter Julie Richardson (Doug), his brother Sanat Desai (Lata), his sister Hansa, and his grandchildren Connor Richardson, Austin Richardson and Milana Desai. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to ekal.org, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring basic education to every child across rural India.