Giriraj Rao

News Obituary Article

ALPHARETTA: Giriraj Rao, 83, Gandhi follower connected through King Center

By HOLLY CRENSHAW

As a college student in the 1930s, in his hometown of Madras in south India, Giriraj Rao joined his country's struggle to break from British rule.

That struggle had begun years before, "but until Mahatma Gandhi started the nonviolent civil disobedience movement, the 'soul force' was missing," Mr. Rao wrote in a 1995 column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After he moved to the United States, Mr. Rao viewed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as someone who embodied that same history-changing character, "a person with vision and moral courage who could inspire people to have faith in themselves, who could persuade those in power to enact change and to make clear to everyone that to live in harmony is not a dream but an attainable goal."

As executive director of the Atlanta-based Gandhi Foundation of the USA, Mr. Rao worked to connect the teachings of the two spiritual leaders. As a tangible sign of that effort, he helped erect a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.

"I think he would rank that as one of his biggest accomplishments," said his son Shawn Rao of Alpharetta.

Mr. Rao, 83, of Alpharetta died of complications from acute respiratory distress syndrome Tuesday at North Fulton Regional Hospital. The funeral is 2:30 p.m. today at Wages & Sons Stone Mountain Chapel.

He graduated from what is now the University of Madras with degrees in biochemistry, then earned a second master's in food technology in 1948 from the University of California, Berkeley.

He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1952, moved to the Atlanta area in 1973, and spent 32 years at Coca-Cola, where he worked on the development of Fresca, Mello-Yello and other Coke products.

By the time he retired in 1986, Mr. Rao had become increasingly active in Atlanta's Indian community, partly because there was more to be pulled into, his son said.

"When we came to Atlanta in the 1970s, there was just one Indian restaurant and not much of a community here," his son said. "So later in his life he returned more deeply to his roots."

Drawing connections between the nonviolent philosophies of Gandhi and King was central to his work.

"My dad always thought bridge-building was very important," his son said, "and he saw many bridge-building opportunities through the King Center."

He found a supportive ally in Coretta Scott King, whose funeral he attended.

"She welcomed his Gandhi events," his son said, "and gave a home in the King Center to many of them."

Mr. Rao spearheaded a wide range of Indian community organizations and cultural events.

Charismatic, quick to laugh, and a nonstop talker, Mr. Rao found it easy to enlist volunteers to his cause.

"He was a man of contradictions," his son said. "He could be studious and diligent and extremely devoted to conflict resolution and positive change in society, and at the same time he was a very warm, gregarious person. He believed in old-world formalities to some extent, yet he could be very informal, too."

For years, Mr. Rao rode on a float sponsored by the Asian/Pacific American Council in the WSB Fourth of July parade, smiling and waving with a bevy of Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders around him.

"He loved doing what he did, and he took it very seriously," his son said. "But he didn't mind the attention."

Survivors include his wife, Elena Rao, of Alpharetta; another son, Matthew Rao of Atlanta; and stepdaughter, Alisa Abdullaeva of Kennesaw.

© 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution