Jagroop Kishore Tandan

Son of Jairam Kishore Tandan and Shyam Rahni Tandan of Lucknow, India, Jaggi, along with his brothers Bhup and Shivo, grew up in their ancestral home, “Kaiser Manzil”, established by their grandfather, Dr. Rup Kishore Tandan MB & CM (Edinburgh), graduate from Edinburgh University in 1893, and medical practitioner in Lucknow until his death in March 1929. Dr. RK Tandan’s many descendants continue to live in this huge apartment block to this day, and coincidentally, on the day Jaggi passed, 2 of his grandchildren, who were visiting India, sat and reflected from his childhood bedroom, imagining little Jaggi from times bygone, running around the place.

Jaggi was the beloved husband of Verna (passed in April 2023), his wife of 63 years. He was loving father of Ved (Susan) and Tara (Jonathan), and "Gramps" to his 7 grandchildren (Jordan, Nathan, Erin, Jasmine; Lucas, Tessa & Katie), and "Uncle J" to all his loving extended family. The glue that bonded family from across the globe, and the man that could provide a solid answer to any question on any topic, he will be missed beyond words.

After graduating high school in 1946, Jaggi studied Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and English at Lucknow Christian College, obtaining a 2-year diploma, after which he attended Lucknow University for five years, graduating in 1950, first with a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry, Zoology and Botany, followed in 1953 by an M.Sc. degree in Chemistry. Thereafter, he was employed from 1954-1957 at the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, and later, between 1957-1959, became a grad student in Chemistry at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. In August 1959 he met Verna Blake, a Jamaican immigrant to Canada, and on Nov. 5, 1959 they married in Hamilton, where they continued to live and work from 1960 to 1962. In August 1962, Jaggi was appointed to teach Chemistry at the Northern Ontario Institute of Technology (later the Northern College of Applied Arts and Technology), Kirkland Lake, Ontario. They stayed up north for a few years, finally returning to Hamilton in Sept 1965. In August 1966, Jaggi joined the faculty of the Hamilton Institute of Technology (became Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in 1967) and he remained working at Mohawk College a respected educator, teaching Chemistry, until his retirement at the end of June, 1989.

With Lucknow as a center of music and art, Jaggi was exposed to music from an early age, with the radio usually tuned to Indian classical or 'popular film music'. Starting at the age of about 37 Jaggi really began to explore his artistic side. Verna had introduced him to Western Classical Music and Chopin quickly became his favorite musical composer. After purchasing their first home in 1966, he spent 80$ to buy a well-used “player piano” with the player mechanism removed. And he taught himself to play, eventually swapping instruments for a Steinway Upright-Grand piano which he found a good deal on at Eaton's, downtown Hamilton. He took lessons on and off, and in the early 1980’s he began to compose his own music. Inspired by his memories of Lucknow and his amazing ancestral home, Jaggi’s first publication was a little booklet called “Memories of Childhood”, with five compositions, copyrighted in 1981, four of which since revised (included on his music CD, with all music played by the instruments available in the computer program MuseScore). After retiring from Mohawk College in June 1989, Jaggi composed another 25 other pieces of music, also included on his CD.

As a young man in India, Jaggi did experiment a little with photography. Post retirement, beyond his musical accomplishments, his other artistic interests included designing intricate calligraphy pieces, and making beautiful acrylic paintings. Most, but not all, of his paintings were based on photographs that he had taken. Jaggi loved to travel around the world. In 1984 he went so far as to make a special pilgrimage to Europe to follow the path taken by Chopin from Warsaw to Paris. He brought his family overseas, including to both India and Jamaica. With these travels, and having made road trips with the family every summer, visiting nearly every State in the USA and every Province in Canada, Jaggi had ample photos for inspiration which carried him late into his painting career, always attempting to tell a story through his artwork. The end products of these can be seen, along with some of his musical compositions, on his YouTube channel, "Jagroop Tandan".

Jaggi is remembered as a brilliant intellectual, loving husband, dutiful and generous father, grandparent and patriarch, artist, musician and fierce survivor. The world is better because he was in it.

Resting at Cresmount Funeral Home, Fennell Chapel, 322 Fennell Ave. East, Hamilton. No visitation planned. Celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Online condolences can be left at cresmountfennellchapel.com