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Dr. A.N.V.Rao Memorial Page
"Worshipping the feet of the Guru is the ultimate of all worships” – Sri Guru Pranam
"There is no deity superior to the Guru, no gain better than the Guru's grace
... no state higher than meditation on the Guru." – Mukthananda
It is with
a heavy heart we inform you that our dear Dr. A.N.V. Rao has passed away.Dr. Rao is the founder and Faculty Advisor for the Students of India Association
at USF. SIA is reflection of Dr. Rao's personality; He was the embodiment of
service and patience. He was the backbone and the local guardian of the Indian
student community at USF.
Dr. A.N.V. Rao was born in Kurnool, A.P., India on January 22, 1936. He studied
B.E in Electrical Engineering at Guindy University in Madras, graduating in
1957. He worked as a faculty member in Aurangabad Engineering College. In 1964,
he married his wife Saral. In 1967, after his birth of his first son, Krishna,
the family moved to Rhode Island. He earned his Master’s Degree in Electrical
Engineering and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Rhode Island in
1971. That same year, after bearing as much cold weather as possible, the family
moved to Florida where he was hired by the University of South Florida in Tampa
as an Assistant Professor. He and his wife were graced with their second son,
Sanjiv, in 1976. In 1980, he became a full professor and has since then remained
as asset to the university and community. Dr. Rao produced a number of doctoral
students during his long, productive academic career and was instrumental in
starting the statistics program in the mathematics department at the University
of South Florida.
Dr. Rao has been involved in many community affairs since the early
1980’s. He was the founder of the Gurukulam, a school which allows many children
to accomplish their dreams. He was the faculty advisor for the Students of India
Association (SIA) at USF. SIA is intimately involved in making as smooth a
transition as possible for Indian foreign students. In 1990,USF awarded him the
Outstanding Faculty Advisor award for his work with SIA. Dr. Rao saw the
importance of instilling a good value system in our children and so was proud of
being the founding president of the Hindu Temple of Florida for his excellent
community service. Dr. Rao‘s true commitment to education led him to start the
Urban Scholars Outreach Program, a program designed to academically aid
disadvantaged minority youths. In 2002, he won the INDO-US chamber of commerce
award for his outstanding service and endless dedication to the success of our
community’s children and the following year, he won the Time Warner Humanitarian
award for his efforts with the USOP program. He measured his success not by his
own accomplishments, but by the accomplishments of the many children he
educated.
Dr.
Rao was instrumental in starting the Telugu Association of Florida (TAF) in
1997. He was one of the founding coordinators and the first President of the
TAF. He was awarded a Life Time Achievement Award for community service by TAF
in January 2005. He also received the coveted Telugu Association of North
America Award for his community service.
In his spare time, he enjoyed reading books especially Telugu poetry.
As an engineering student, he wrote many Telugu poems and was awarded by Arudra
for his work. Dr. Rao was firmly committed to being the “ideal guru” – he viewed
every single student – whether a 1st grader or a doctoral candidate-
as his serious responsibility and was comfortable teaching students of all ages.
He believed that the ultimate goal of a guru was to enlighten, that is dispel
darkness and take the pupil to the far shore of learning. He admired the ideals
of Mahatma Gandhi and the academic brilliance of his favorite of his favorite
mathematician, Dr. Ramanujam.
Everyone
who has met him found warmth and humility in him, and in spite of his numerable
achievements and awards, he was very modest. He can never be replaced and SIA is
very indebted to him.
We all miss you,
Dr. Rao, our Guru.
You live on in our
hearts & through the knowledge you have imparted, will be immortal.
In honoring him a memorial Scholarship will be set up at
USF. These tax deductible contributions can also be mailed to:
Dr.
A.N.V. Rao Scholarship Fund,
1314 South Ft. Harrison Ave,
Clearwater, FL 33756
Make
checks payable to USF Foundation, write Dr. A.N.V. Rao Scholarship on the memo
section, also please include your name and address along with your contribution
if it is not given on the check.
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