Venu Gopalkrishna

Venu Gopalkrishna, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, passed away peacefully due to complications from dementia at the age of 85. He was the son of Thirumaleshwari and Ganapayya Bhat and grew up the 5th of 11 children on a farm in a small village called Sullia in India before moving to the US to continue his education. Venu earned mathematics bachelors and masters degrees from Vivekananda College in Chennai, India in 1962 and 1963, respectively. He also earned a second masters in statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata in 1966 and his doctorate in mathematics from the Courant Institute at New York University in 1970. He formed a close relationship with his thesis advisor, Professor Louis Nirenberg. Venu was a gifted mathematician, and his research was even praised by the famous mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah of Oxford University, who won the Abel Prize in 2004. After graduating from NYU, Venu moved to Miami, Florida with his wife and daughter to team mathematics at the University of Miami. During his 7 years in Miami, he and Savithri welcomed a son (Anant) and Venu enjoyed filling his spare hours with tropical gardening and being a member of the Rare Fruit Club. Upon the advent of the computer age, Venu found his new calling in computer programming and systems analysis and moved to work at NCR in Ohio. He continued to work in this field until his retirement. Those who knew Venu well remember him most for love and knowledge of both Indian and Western classical music. Venu, along with other Indian classical music lovers in the Dayton area, arranged for visiting Indian musicians to perform locally and often hosted them at his home. Along with his love of music, his other defining passion was gardening and landscaping; he eventually became a Master Gardener. Venu was an exceedingly hard worker and never shied away from taking on huge and physically demanding gardening projects that spanned months if not years. One of his never-ending labors of love was the beautiful park he made of his backyard (lovingly christened JMOP - Jyoti Miller Oak Park). Despite his 135-pound stature, he could move surprisingly large stones and dig holes deeper than he was tall. Venu was a man who spoke his mind; he was unflinchingly honest, and he didn’t compromise to please others. He loved green chili peppers almost too hot for human consumption, pickles, olives, bitter melon, chess, the Taco Bell chihuahua, magnolia trees, chrysanthemums, and last but not least, he loved his grandchildren immensely. Venu was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters and one brother. Survivors include his loving wife of 53 years (Savithri), his daughter (Jyoti Miller), son-in-law (David Miller), son (Anant Venu), and grandchildren (Krishan Miller, Sam Miller, and Malini Miller) as well as one brother and six sisters in India. At the request of the family, services will be private. In lieu of gifts, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tobias-fh.com for the Gopalkrishna family.