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San Francisco Bay Area Indian community leader Naranjibhai Patel passed away, April 23, at age 76, at a San Jose hospital after a long battle with kidney disease. A much-revered Asian American hotelier, and a person with stubborn determination to help his community’s most revered dream project – the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple, is being mourned throughout this California community and around the world.

Just six months ago, before Diwali last year, was my last encounter with him at his residence in San Jose, Calif., only to know that he had blockage in his arteries in the left leg and had to undergo a by-pass surgery. He could not walk. Just six months before that, in May 2013, he was looking so energetic and enthusiastic when the Mahakumbhabhishekam of the Sunnyvale Temple took place.

My memories go as far as 1995 when I first met him in Sunnyvale Temple where he was supervising cleanliness in the Temple, honoring the dignity of labor and a feeling of ownership that he always took for any fault in the Temple and community activities.

Naranjibhai’s credentials will be incomplete without the mention of his great philosophy, “Everybody should be allowed to live in pride and dignity.” That’s what he was about. He wanted people to be held accountable.

Naranji, a selfless defender of the people in his community, and a warrior for preaching the true values of Indian culture, had developed a religious and cultural bond with the next generation of immigrant Indians in San Francisco Bay Area. He was committed to the cause of developing and furthering Hinduism for the growing Indian community.

Founder of Indian Cultural Association and Charitable Care Foundation, Naranjibhai, as he was often fondly called, was the founding father of the largest Hindu Temple in San Francisco Bay Area, Sunnyvale Hindu Temple and Community Center.

Born in 1938, Naranji Patel came to California in 1974. Born in Gujarat, India, his journey began in 1954 when a 16-year-young boy traveled to Nairobi for schooling. He went to England for higher studies, served in the British Army and worked as an assembly line worker at MARS Co. He started the Asian Film Society to continually maintain the connection between Indo-British communities. He volunteered at community centers to teach about the Indian culture and heritage.

In 2007, the state of Gujarat named him “Non Resident Indian of the Year from America.” He was awarded for “Distinguished Community Service” from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and the “Cecil B. Day Award for Community Service” from Asian American Hotel Owners Association.

“He has done a lot of good for this community,” says his associate and current treasurer of Sunnyvale Hindu Temple, Raj Bhanot, who has worked with him for 23 years. “He always took an active role, especially for the Hindu Community and people from Gujarat to West Bengal, Punjab to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka to Orissa. Naranji always wanted the young generation to be aware of our rich culture, government and politics, and how they can make a difference.”

The owner of hotels and motels in the U.S. is remembered for his service to the Surti Leva Patidar Samaj and the Sanskruti Foundation, USA.

Naranjibhai Patel is survived by his wife, Shanta Patel; daughter, Nila Vanmali; son-in-law, Avanit; son, Ashwin Patel; daughter-in-law Tanuja; and three grandsons, Nikhil, Ishaan and Yash.

The Patel family requests that donations be made in Mr. Patel’s memory to the National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org/support/.