Vasant V. Abhyankar

Born in Oklahoma City, OK on April 3, 1930 Vasant Abhyankar began his journey through life. He was the oldest son of Vishwanath Abhyankar and Anita Z. Swinka Abhyankar. Shortly after Vasant was born, the family moved to India and traveled by Ship from the United States. Vasant was primarily raised in India. The family was in Mumbai by Bombay Central Railway Station and also had a home in Palghar. Vasant attended and graduated from an all-boys school on Grant Road in Mumbai, Robert Money Primary School. Afterwards he attained his Bachelor's Degree in English with a Minor in Psychology while living in Gujrat. Vasant began working at the India Silk and Textile Company where he made many friends. Later in 1966, he met and married Asha Ambardekar (Kumudini Abhyankar). After marrying, the couple quickly secured contract jobs for the Ethiopian Government as school teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both taught at Prince Moconan High School in Addis Ababa. Vasant had a passion for teaching. Many of his students would routinely come to the family home to get additional assistance with school work and ask for letters of recommendation for entering the workforce or attending college. Vasant loved to read, travel and listen to classical music. One of his favorite authors was Oscar Wilde. He would recite snippets from Shakespeare plays at the dinner table. In every day life, Vasant loved taking pictures. His love for photography was inherited by both his daughters, Anuradha and Anupama. Vasant absolutely loved his wife and daughters. They meant the world to him. Raising two stubborn daughters was no easy feat. He taught them the importance of education and being strong independent women that could complement the right man. He enjoyed capturing family events, birthdays, and documenting his travels. He took his family on many vacations all across the world. He actually lived in three different continents during the course of his life, Asia, Africa and North America. Vasant had a deep rooted love for his family. He loved to spend time with them. His most talked about family events were the cookouts at his daughter, Anu's home where he enjoyed time with his two grand-kids, Eddie and Jackie, watching them swim. Swimming was one of Vasant's favorite summertime activities. Vasant also loved animals. Animals simply gravitated to him. In his younger years he had a pet baby leopard. Over the years he has had many pets, cats, dogs, bunnies, and more. When he lived in Chelsea Woods, in Greenbelt, MD the animals in the neighborhood, cats and dogs would follow him when he jogged around the neighborhood. Cats and dogs even followed him home to the doorstep, where he routinely fed them. Most of all Vasant loved life. He was full of jokes, sarcasm and smiles. In his older years he spent a lot of time listening to classical music which he loved from the time he was a child. As a young man, Vasant played the Violin. Anyone that knew Vasant well, would know that he had a sweet tooth and especially loved chocolate candy.