Achhar “Archie” Singh Parihar
On the afternoon of March 28th, 2020, Achhar passed away while being visited and comforted by his family at the Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary. He was 69 years old.
Achhar is survived by his loving wife of 36 years Amarjit, his two sons Ashok and Amit, along with his siblings: brothers Sarup, Harbhajan, Balvinder, Harvinder, sisters Tarsem Kaur and Rajinder Kaur, along with many loving nieces, nephews and extended family. Achhar was a loving husband, father, brother, uncle, and friend to everyone. Achhar was predeceased by his mother and father, Gurbachan Kaur Parhar and Rajmal Singh.
Achhar was born on November 20th, 1950 in the Indian state of Punjab. From an early age, Achhar displayed both a passion and a strong aptitude in mathematics and science. A passion so strong that growing up, he would spend much of his free time reading books and studying while his younger brothers were playing outside. This passion and dedication allowed Achhar to graduate at the top of his class and 5th in the entire state of Punjab, winning a National Scholarship in high school in the town of Banga. He also stood first in Pre-engineering in SN College Banga and went to Punjab University Chandigarh for his degree in Chemical Engineering in 1972.
Later that year, he immigrated to Canada with his best friends from school, Harbhajan Ghumman and Vijay Chopra. Together, they overcame many obstacles to become Canadian citizens while building successful careers as engineers and having loving families. In July 1983, Achhar married the love of his life Amarjit and together they raised two sons.
Achhar spent 32 years as a Chemical Engineer at AMEC, where he utilized his incredible knowledge of math and science to earn the nickname of “Guru” by many of his younger colleagues and protégés. During his career at AMEC, Achhar became a full-fledged member of APEGA, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. Over the years, he worked on many projects in the oil and gas industry all over Canada, the United States, Mexico and China.
On his spare time, Achhar enjoyed reading books and listening to music on Sikh history and culture while also spending many years playing classical musical instruments including the tabla, the flute and the hand-pumped harmonium. Achhar and Amarjit also donated their time on the weekends to helping those less fortunate at the local Mustard Seed.
Funeral services for Achhar will be at the Country Hills Crematorium & Funeral Services on Wednesday April 1st at 1:00 pm. Memorial donations may be made to The Kidney Foundation of Canada, Southern Alberta Branch Office, 6007 1a Street SW, Calgary AB T2H 0G5 or via https://kidney.akaraisin.com/ui/generaldonation/donations/start.
The Parihar family would like to send a special thank you to the staff at the Country Hills Crematorium & Funeral Services for being very accommodating and understanding during this difficult time, along with the doctors and nurses at the Rockyview General hospital for all their hard work in treating Achhar during his final days.
He was loved very much and will be dearly missed by his family and friends.
32 Comments
What a shock to hear such sad news. My deepest sympathies to Amar and her family. All of the stories I heard about Archie over the years which were always based on his deep love for his family. He will be missed by many.
Heart felt sadness and shocked to know how life can change so quick for the family. May God give strength to loved one to bear the loss.
An amazing person so knowledgeable yet having a child like simple approach to life. A very caring and a gentle soul. We will miss you always.
Sneh and Ravinder Sierra
My deepest heartfelt sympathies to Amarjeet Aunty, Ashok and Amit. I will forever remember Archie Uncles basement parties and his help with the computer. I’m happy I saw him recently during his Toronto visit. God bless a kind hearted soul.
Very sorry to hear about this loss. Wishing our condolences to your family in this heart felt time.
-Gurmail & Narinder Ghumman
We are very sorry to hear about this sad news. Our deepest condolences with the entire Parihar family. May god give them strength to endure this tough time.
I have known Achhar Bhaji ever since he was studying with Harbhajan bhaji he used to come visit us at our village in Punjab. He was always smiling. I remember the last time I saw him on Feb 28 at Harbhajan bhaji’s house as well. I will remember him as nice and calm person. We will all miss you bhaji, rest in peace.
A sad an untimely loss of a person who was always laughing and carefree. Our heart goes out to the Parihar family.
Shocked when Herb. Send me emails.I know Acher for 45 years.He had real human being qualities.He was egoless, selfless and down to the earth man .Sad condolence to Amarjeet
And her family.
Achhar was a true friend . He was a philosopher and a guide . He was cool and calm guy, so was his death .He was known to
me for last 52 years . My heart felt condolences to family ..RIP.
Achhar was a friend of friends . He was a philosopher and a guide .. He was known to me for the last 52?yrs ..My heart felt condolences to the family . RIP!
Achhar, last 52 passed so quickly, cannot believe it. It would have been better if you would have lived a little longer to continue our lifelong friendship. I am and will be missing you until we meet again. Now I will try accepting God’s will. But I cannot forget your respectful behaviour towards me, listening to my all suggestion; did not matter how good or bad they were. You never said “no” to me. Your trust in me says a lot about YOUR character. Remembering that when I will push you to exercise, you will say humbly that you are unable makes me feel that how wrong I was.
I salute your honesty and truthful ness and your nature of never criticizing anyone but appreciating something in everyone. I strongly believe & feels in that you were one of a kind, no wonder you left us peacefully without any suffering. God bless your soul.
Our Hearfelt condolences from our entire family members.
Harbhajan
Our family was saddened to hear about the loss of Achhar, sending our deepest condolences to the Parihar family.
– Ghumman Family
Achhar, last 52 years passed so quickly, cannot believe it. It would have been better if you would have lived a little longer to continue our lifelong friendship. I am and will be missing you until we meet again. Now I will try accepting God’s will. But I cannot forget your respectful behaviour towards me, listening to my all suggestion; did not matter how good or bad they were. You never said “no” to me. Your trust in me says a lot about YOUR character. Remembering that when I will push you to exercise, you will say humbly that you are unable makes me feel that how wrong I was.
I salute your honesty and truthful ness and your nature of never criticizing anyone but appreciating something in everyone. I strongly believe & feels in that you were one of a kind, no wonder you left us peacefully without any suffering. God bless your soul.
Our heartfelt condolences to Prihar family from our entire Ghumman family.
Harbhajan
Achhar, was a very simple and spiritually oriented person, as I remember him from chemical Engg. School days, where we both graduated from. Recently, through what’s app application we all got connected. It is very sad for all of us to know Achhar leaving all of us for HIM. I pray God that HE keeps his soul under his own protection and provides his family with strength to bear this loss.
May Achhar’s soul find Peach in God’s kingdom.
Our Hearts and Thoughts are with Amar and Family
Our family was saddened to hear about the passing of Achhar, please accept our deepest condolences.
– Ghumman Family
I feel fortunate to call Mr. Achar Parihar my friend for last 30 years. Our families have shared a special bond over these years with the Parihar family. I would like to express my deepest condolences to his wife Amarjit and family from myself and my wife Sarabjit. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him. He was a true gentleman. Although he has left us, he will live on in our memories. Goodbye friend, we love you.
Our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the Parihar. We will greatly miss Acchar as our dear friend, neighbour and carpool partner. We will always remember his clever mind, interesting facts and stories and the fun loving way he would tease Amarjit. Acchar was a kind soul with a child like spirit who was always smiling and will forever be missed.
We deeply sympathize with the for the untimely loss . We pray to God that He gives peace to the departed Soul and give strength to the family to bear the big loss . Aschar we will miss you and your memories will also live in our heart.
My deepest sympathy to the family on this loss. May god rest his soul in peace and give family the courage to bear this loss.
Just heard about this from a dear friend. I can’t believe this has happened. Such great memories of working under him and with him. Such a wonderful, gentle, humble, intelligent, always helpful unconditionally, a curious mind and passionate human being. One of those rare souls that you know will always have your back no matter what. I remember calling him for a reference a few times. I had thought about calling him a few times. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. My heartfelt sincere condolences to the friends and family.
Very sad to hear about the departure of a very friendly, respectable and noble colleague.
Our deepest condolences to Amarjeet, Ashok, Amit and the whole family. Achar was such a close and dear friend – we miss him very much but know that his sweet and generous spirit will always be with us. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.
With love from the Hundal family.
I am proud to say that you was like my older brother . It’s so sad time comes so fast for you you left us too early. We have always special place our heart for you. God give strength to the family to bear this loss. God bless your soul Bhaji .
I was very saddened to hear the news today. I worked with Archie between 1997 and 2004 at AMEC, and he was also a good friend. Archie was extremely brilliant engineer with amazing memory on numbers. More than that, he was very kind and gentle person, who always saw good and positive things in every human being around him. He was also very deeply spiritual person. He passed away too soon. May God take care of him in Heaven. My sincere condolences to all of his family.
Deeply saddened. Archie was a great engineer and a very dedicated family man. I very much valued being a colleague and friend over the years. His passion and wisdom will be much missed by many. My very best to the family in this difficult time.
I was very saddened to hear the news. I worked with Archie for many years at AMEC, and he was also a good friend. Archie was extremely brilliant engineer with amazing memory on numbers. More than that, he was very kind and gentle person, who always saw good and positive things in every human being around him. He was also deeply spiritual person. He passed away too soon. May God take care of him in Heaven. Our sincere condolences to all of his family.
Our deepest condolences and prayers fir Aunty, Ashok and Amit. We loved uncle like our father and our fond memories will live on in our hearts forever. I remember how he kissed our forehead and blessed Puja and I each time we met him. I miss you uncle please Rest In Peace.
Achhar Bhaji acted with true passion, hard work, and honesty, even when no one was watching. He cherished and actively promoted true independence in all walks of life, and expected nothing less than these 3 qualities in everyone including his own children. it’s finally hit home that we lost him for forever – just can’t believe it. He will truly be missed. He is the reason I am where I am today. It was his incredible efforts that led to me, along with other family members, immigrating to Canada back in 80s, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about that. He had this uncanny ability to see genuineness in others as he would tell me whenever he got a chance that my wife, raji, never talked rubbish about others or carried ill-will regarding others. True and of course, I don’t tell this to my wife for obvious reasons. Terrible and tragic loss. However, his teachings live on forever. May he rest in peace. God bless.
I am greatly shocked to learn of the sad and untimely demise of Mr. Achhar Parihar ji. No words can give comfort to any one at this stage. He was such a noble soul and one of the most affectionate, caring, cultured and down-to-earth human beings that I have come across in my life. I know from my many experiences with him that he loved his family tremendously and was totally dedicated to their well-being. To me personally, though he was my student at Chandigarh in late 60’s and early 70’s, he was more my sincere friend. I am deeply saddened and join you all in prayers for peace to his departed soul.
Inderjit
Archie was a Senior engineer when I worked in AMEC. He was kind and polite. Very friendly and nice gentleman. May he rest in peace. My condolences to the family members.