T.J. Natarajan

1941 - 2018

February 24, 1941 - April 24, 2018
T.J. Natarajan, loving son, husband, father and grandfather, was born on February 24, 1941, in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India, the youngest child of T.S. Jahannathan and T.S. Visalakshi. After completing undergraduate and graduate engineering education in India (B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Coimbatore Institute of Technology, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), he began his professional career at Simon Carves in Calcutta, India in 1962. He came to The Ohio State University in 1970 to further his graduate engineering studies. After obtaining a Master's degree in Welding Engineering and becoming a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.), he went on to a successful Engineering & Construction career at Ingersoll-Rand in Painted Post, NY, and Brown & Root in Houston, TX. He brought his family to San Antonio in 1984 and started his own businesses in custom home construction and general contracting. T.J. constructed and remodeled numerous residential homes, hotels, professional buildings and other business locations throughout San Antonio and South Texas during his career. He had a passion for creating employment opportunities for people, and enabling entrepreneurs to conduct and grow their businesses.

T.J. was instrumental in the design and original construction of several houses of worship in San Antonio, including the Hindu Temple of San Antonio, Sikh Center of San Antonio, Islamic Center of San Antonio and St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Church.

Most recently, T.J. was the driving force behind the creation of the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT), with the vision of making science and technology accessible to children from South Texas from a young age to build the workforce of the future. T.J. passed away unexpectedly but peacefully at home on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Per his wishes, he was cremated according to Hindu tradition on the same day at M.E. Rodriguez Funeral Home. He is survived by his wife Ambika V. Natarajan, daughter Suchitra N. Sairam and son-in-law R. Sairam, son Vinod K. Natarajan and daughter-in-law Priya M. Natarajan, and beloved grandchildren Sona and Shaan.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests consideration of donations to SAMSAT (www.samsat.org).