Kahandas Nandola WG62 GR70 passed away on September 4, 2017, in Libertyville, IL, due to complications from a recent stroke. He was 82.
Kahandas was born on January 17, 1935, in Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), India. He had two brothers and two sisters. He graduated from the University of Madras with a bachelor’s degree in commerce with honors. He came to study in the U.S. with little money and graduated with an MBA degree from the Wharton School in December of 1962. He decided to go further and wrote his PhD dissertation on the economics of supermarkets while he worked at the Marketing Science Institute in Philadelphia and later at St. Joseph’s University. He graduated with a PhD from Wharton in May of 1970 and took a marketing professorship position at Ohio University in 1971. He founded the Executive MBA program at Ohio University and had the opportunity to graduate 26 outstanding classes during his tenure as director of the Executive MBA program. Students were impressed with his ability to instruct, discuss, and converse in any environment while never losing his gentlemanly character. This is consistent with his treatment of all people he met throughout his life, which echoes his motto for his Executive MBA program of “Excellence with Elegance.” He retired from Ohio University in 2006.
He married his wife, Puspalata Nandola, in 1964; she predeceased him in 2015. He was a wonderful father for his son and only child, Rabinder Nandola, born in 1966. He loved tennis and was a very avid swimmer and walker for many years, which helped extend his life. He moved to Grayslake, IL, in 2007 to be closer to his grandchildren, Sarah and Thomas, and was a tremendous grandfather for them.
