Remembrance

It is with a heavy heart I share the sad news of passing of one of our founding members Dr. Subramanyam Ramanathan.

 He joined the UH Campus system in April 1970 and did most of his work which included innovative research and teaching in the Department of Pharmacology.  He finally retired from the University system in December of 2004 before the John A. Burns School of Medicine moved to Kaka'ako.  Soon after this he started his gradual transition of relocating to San Diego to be closer to his granddaughters whom he had the pleasure of spending their formative years with.

Dr. Ramanathan was an all-rounder. He had the reputation of being an avid Tennis player although it is unclear why he gave up this sport other than the fact that he started spending more time with his spirituality.  He was the founding member of LOTUS in 1989 and served in various leadership capacities and guided its activities until the time of his move to San Diego.  You would never find him without his camera in social gatherings and his collection of photographs were monumental.

He was one of the architects of the Annual Diwali function that LOTUS has hosted since the mid-1990’s, especially the inclusion of the segment with the young in the community performing.  He had a soft corner for them and was always thinking of ways to engage them.

Since his move to San Diego, he made occasional trips to Hawaii, one of the last ones being for the Prathishta (installation) of the Shiva Lingam at the Wahiawa temple site.  The accompanying photograph was taken during that event.

He is survived by his wife Sakunthala, daughters Bhuvana and Sridevi, son-in-law Norm and granddaughters Priya, Solana and Meghana.

 LOTUS hopes to share Dr. Ramanathan's life in Hawaii and his impact on the community through the words of his long time friend Mr. Dipankar Sengupta in the next few weeks.

Venkataraman Balaraman

President, LOTUS