One soul many bodies

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 1 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