Jaysukh Muljibhai Shah was born on November 19, 1933 as the youngest of three children in Rajkot, Gujarat India. He spent his school years in Nadiad, Gujarat and studied in the evenings by a kerosene lantern. ‘Jay’ was the first person in his immediate family to attend college. He spent his early years of college in Mumbai at Elphinstone College and then obtained a degree in Civil Engineering at Vidhya Na Ghar College in Nadiad. His meager upbringing and desire to be rewarded commensurate to his efforts, motivated him to seek further education and career opportunities. The future of his family was his largest incentive to pursue a dream in America.
He sacrificed personal needs in order to pursue opportunities for prosperity. With the encouragement and support of his maternal uncle, Jay came to America on February 1st, 1958 with simple clothing, sandals, and very little money. He worked three jobs to assist with living expenses while attending the University of Michigan to obtain a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering. Upon graduation, he intended to head by Greyhound bus to ‘steel town’ Youngstown, Ohio to explore job prospects. As good fortune goes, he missed the bus transfer in Akron by an hour and combed through the yellow pages for engineering consultant jobs. He found one for the summer and later in nearby Canton.
A dear friend encouraged him to not underestimate himself during the job negotiation process and this, along with his ambition, helped him to seek and define professional goals. He joined Marr, Knapp, and Crawfis (MKC) engineers and architects in 1962 and his first big project was designing Massillon City Hospital. He joked that they decided to keep him around just in case ‘something happened’! Eventually, the firm moved him to New Philadelphia where he worked for over 35 years with design projects that encompassed the breadth of this quintessential community. These included the elementary school his children eventually attended, a major hospital extension where each of his children were born, the city library, the vocational school, a local branch of a major university, and a lakeside resort.
Dad returned to India in 1964 to marry our mother, Shailini S. Parikh, after a brief courtship. They were the first Asian Indian couple in a county of 80,000 people. It was an incredibly warm welcome. The town actually showcased the newlyweds in the Sunday color pages of the local newspaper. They had three children who helped to raise six wonderful grandchildren - Anita (with Hitesh), Sangita (with Apu), and Raj (with Niki): Akaash, Anokhi, Vikash, Amit, Vivek, and Avni. Jay sponsored family and friends to come to America and he was essentially the pioneer for his extended family’s migration to North America.
Jay served as a pillar of the community which included President of the Lions’ Club and Ohio Society of Professional Engineers. He was most proud of being a dedicated husband to his beautiful wife of 57 years and for the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren. It was his personal sacrifice and ambition that permitted us to enjoy, in many respects, a privileged life. He will be remembered for his wit, unbridled patriotism, and his utter devotion to our family. Dad encouraged us to always be the best at whatever path we had chosen. He repeatedly taught us to help those who were less fortunate and in whatever capacity possible. He demonstrated the ideals of feeling grateful and to express empathy. Our father was humble enough to realize that it was not only a commitment to work ethic but circumstance and good fortune that permitted him and his family to prosper. He left this world peacefully and surrounded by his loving family on December 27th, 2021. He will be missed by all that knew him…forever.
In lieu of flowers, our father’s wishes was to support this charity that feeds millions of school children who would have otherwise gone without food:
https://www.akshayapatra.org/active-fundraising-campaigns/jay-shah-memorial-fund
Please choose Gujarat State where we are from
(Donation is in Indian rupees)
Here is a video of their amazing work in action:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=USBh588MNbk
If the link does not work. Please send a check written to Akshay Patra USA and mail to:
Raj J Shah
7894 E Bayaud Ave
Denver, CO 80230
Jai Shree Krishna