Rangappanaidu Veerasamy Subbiah

R.V. was born on October 20, 1937 in Meenakshipuram, a small farming village in Tamilnadu, Southern India. He was the youngest of five siblings. The farm that he grew up on was in the foothills of the Western Ghats. His chores on the farm often included tending to the land that grew coconut, banana, mango, guava, rice, peanuts and cotton. His love for the land carried over to his adult years – he maintained fruit and vegetable gardens in his spare time.

As the first engineer in his family, he graduated from the PSG College of Technology, India in Electrical Engineering in 1960, and completed his Masters in Electrical and Control Systems Engineering at IIT Karagpur, India in 1963, and worked for his Alma Mater after. He moved to the United States in March, 1968, and worked as an aerospace engineer, first in Belvidere, Illinois and then in Phoenix, Arizona, until he retired at the age 76.

R.V. was an energetic athlete all his life. In college, he played volleyball and participated in various track events which included wining two championships in Hammer Throw in college, playing basketball and actively organizing basketball tournaments. If he wasn’t playing, he was travelling on his motorcycle to watch various sporting events with his friends. He continued to play volleyball, softball, and soccer in adult leagues, keeping up with all his younger teammates even in his 40’s and early 50’s. He later took up golf, and became an avid golfer. If he couldn’t play, he watched and followed everything he could on T.V. He also loved getting together with friends to play Bridge and Chess, winning several competitions. It didn’t matter if you didn’t know how to play - he would patiently teach you, but would never go easy on you.

Never one to sit still, he liked to stay busy and productive. He always had a project he was working on - he built things around the house, gardened, and did electrical work. Anything that needed fixing, he tried his hand at it first. He loved road trips and often took his family or friends on long car trips coast to coast over the summers. He was not a fan of being the passenger. He loved good food, happy hours, and spending time with family and friends enjoying both.

Friendly and generous, R.V. was always available to offer valuable advice, whether you needed it or not! And he was always the first one willing to offer help when you needed it the most. He was always in a good mood and a great friend, guide, and mentor in every phase of his life.

R.V. is survived by his wife Gomathi, his two children - Nandhini and Vasu, his son in law Ted, his daughter in law Vidhya, and his 5 grandchildren, Aadhi, Arun, Kiran, Shrihari and Ronak.

Services will be held on June 21, 2020, from 12:00-1:30 PM PST. Due to the current restrictions, the service will be private. However, please add any photos, memories, or thoughts you would like to share in the links below.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, we would like you to donate to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation at https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/PFFTribute/RangappanaiduSubbiah