Bhagwan (Ben) Dass Aggarwala, Professor Emeritus (Mathematics) passed away on December 14, 2023 at the age of 92.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Maya Devi, his two children, Anil (Deirdre) and Rita (David), and his four grandchildren, Shailah, Jeena, Ciara and Ronan. He has one surviving sister in India, Dhanpati.
“Bhai Sahib,” as he was fondly known, was born in Jhajjar, India in 1931. After completing his PhD at IIT Kharagpur, he was invited to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh as an instructor. From there, he went to Rensselaer Polytech in Troy, New York, after which he took a position at McGill University and eventually found his way to the University of Calgary. He was a founding Faculty member there. He was a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for 40 years before retiring as an emeritus professor 27 years ago.
“Dad”, “Uncle”, “Nanaji” or “Dadaji” as he was also known, was also devoted to his family and community. He cherished his wife, loved his children and adored his grandchildren. He was a founding member of the Hindu Society of Calgary. He questioned everything, devoured books and marveled at music. He was a mathematician until the end, remembering the derivative of e-to-the-x even when he could not, at times, remember where he lived. His smile lit up the room right up until the last hours of his life.
He will be remembered fondly by all those whose lives he touched.
19 Comments
I am really sorry to hear about uncle. Both my mom and I will be there.
Very sorry for your loss Anil and family. My deepest condolences.
Very sorry to hear of Uncle’ passing. My sincerest condolences go out to you all.
Anil – Very sorry to hear about your Dad. You and your family are in our thoughts at this terrible time. Martin and Sara.
Dear Anil Deirdre Ciara Ronan and your family,
Condolences on the loss of you Dad and grandad in December. We only heard of his passing recently. Please accept our belated sympathy.
Dear Maya and family
Our sincere condolences, we are so sorry for your loss.
Keep strong,and find comfort in all the memories you have.
Our thoughts will be with you in this difficult time.
Love Nick and Voula.
Dear Maya, Rita, and Anil,
Much love to you at this time. I will always remember that whenever I ran into your dad on campus he would greet me with a big smile and ask how I was doing. I equally loved seeing him walk by in super deep contemplation.
Love
Indra
Anil , Deirdre, Ciara & Ronan,
Thinking of you and all your family at this very sad time. Sorry we are so far away but we will be keeping you all in our thoughts in the coming days and will light a candle on Monday in your Dads memory.
May he rest in peace
Úna, Michael & Claire
Maya,
Thinking of you at this time.
Thankfully you had so many years, filled with so many cherished memories, with Ben and your beautiful family.
Our deepest sympathy,
Aglaia and Paul
We are so saddened by the loss to the Aggarwala family. So many fond memories of him (going back to the winter of 1976). Our sincere condolences to Mayaji, Rita, Anil, and family.
Anil, so sorry to hear of your Dad’s passing. Our thoughts are with you and your family at this sad time.
Ar dheis De go raibh a h’anam dilis.
Dr. Aggarwala was the instructor for one of my math courses at the University of Calgary in the late ’80’s. His teaching style resonated strongly with me, I can recall his “double sentence style” to this day. He would introduce a concept, speaking as he was writing, then he would turn around and reiterate that idea again. For me, that was very impactful. It gave me time to digest the idea between sentences and I found his classes engaging and exciting: a perspective I can tell you that was not appreciated by many of my colleagues. That lack of appreciation astounded me at the time – his teaching, for me was a pinnacle of excellent knowledge transmission. It helped me through difficult teaching moments in my own career: you can be brilliant and touch students in class without knowing it’s taking place even when the class sentiment seems ugly. I remember Dr. Arrarwala as a bright light in my undergraduate experience and look back fondly on my class with him.
Extreme loss for all of us. He touched our lives the way no one else did .. Very compassionate, affectionate and caring. We shall miss him always.
Hira and Kumud Aggarwal
Uncle you will be missed. I loved your questions and your humour. We cannot be there today but we have donated to one of your favourite charities, Operation Eyesight, to honour your memory. Be at peace.
The Kotechas
I am very sorry about your loss. My sincere condolences to his family.
I used to enjoy meeting Ben walking in the hallway at the University working on his research. He was such a kind and gentle person.
I regret that I didn’t learn of the details of the funeral until it is too late to attend.
Anil, I was saddened to hear about your Dad’s passing. Our thoughts are with your family during this difficult time. May memories of your time together bring you peace.
We are very sorry to hear of the passing of Uncle. He was a pillar of the Hindu community in Calgary, and we have many fond memories of him, particularly some of his original dad jokes. Deepest condolences to Aunty, Anil, Rita, and the entire family.
Dear Maya, Rita and Anil,
We are deeply saddened at the passing of Dr. Bhagwan Dass ji Aggarwala.
We have so many fond memories of him along with all of you. Our heartfelt condolences to all of you. We pray for the peace of his departed soul.
Besides being a good friend, he has also been a mentor to us in manyways.
We will miss him immensely. Om Shanti.
Our deepest condolences to Maya and family. Our thoughts and prayers are with all.
Rupa and Jaymal Ruparell