BOSTON—Dr. Srinivas Natrajan of Stoughton, MA and Tucson, AZ passed away suddenly on January 8th in Tucson, AZ. He was 93. He was one of the founding members of The New England Hindu Temple in Ashland, MA.
He was one of the early Indian immigrants. He came to the US in 1962 on a ship via the Suez Canal, a journey of over three weeks. At that time, air travel was prohibitively expensive and there were only two PAN AM flights from Mumbai every month.
He was born in Hyderabad, India and moved to the US for higher studies in 1962. Known as “Raj”, Dr. Natrajan was a popular professor of Physiology, Pharmacology and Nutrition at the New England College of Optometry for over four decades, teaching scores of optometry students.
He also had a Veterinary Medicine degree from India, A Masters of Science degree in Nutrition from Auburn University, a PhD in Nutrition from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a Masters of Science degree in Pharmacology from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and a Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) degree from the New England College of Optometry.
He was his family’s first pilgrim, inspiring many of his siblings to migrate and make a life in the US.
He leaves behind his devoted wife 0f 63 years, Saroja, his children, Dr. Sunil Natrajan and wife Donna Natrajan and Dr. Kalpana Natrajan and her husband Sodhan Parikh and his grandchildren Kathan, Kalina and Sammy.
In addition, he is survived by six siblings and 24 nieces and nephews and their families. He led a purposeful, kind and impactful life for his family and for promoting quality eye care education in the US, Europe, South Africa and India.