By A STAFF REPORTER
LOS ANGELES, CA – Shockwaves were felt across the community as news of the passing of the well-known and well-regarded Uka Solanki spread. The businessman and philanthropist passed away on the afternoon of Sept.8 after a brief illness. He was 74. His wife Nalini, spoke to India Journal saying that his passing was...
LOS ANGELES, CA – Shockwaves were felt across the community as news of the passing of the well-known and well-regarded Uka Solanki spread. The businessman and philanthropist passed away on the afternoon of Sept.8 after a brief illness. He was 74. His wife Nalini, spoke to India Journal saying that his passing was...
 |  |
completely unexpected and shocking. Calm but choking on her grief, she said that Solanki had been healthy when a few weeks ago he had gone back to India visit family. On his return he had complained of shortness of breath but had put it down to jet lag. A visit to the Kaiser hospital, here on Sept.5 had the doctors instructing him to get admitted. Diagnosed with flu, he was then taken to the ICU. Solanki succumbed within a couple of days after.
He is survived by five children Kelly, twin daughters Jyoti and Preeti, Harish and Dev and five grandchildren with who he spent time on his return from India. The youngest of three brothers, he is also being mourned by the surviving brother Jiva Solanki, the father of Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Naresh Solanki.
He was a successful businessman but Solanki became a public figure along with his wife, with his philanthropic work. A strong supporter of educational and medical charity activities, he was seen in public, mid-August before his trip to India, pledging $10,000 to the physically challenged. In SoCal, the Uka and Nalini Solanki Foundation established the Yadunandan Center for India Studies with a $500,000 endowment in the Cal State University, Long Beach campus. He also helped establish and run the Sardar Patel Award at University of California, Los Angeles. In India, the couple founded The Nalini Solanki-Chatralay School which educates more than 1,200 girls in Junagadh each year. Solanki was born in Feb.1944 to a middle-class family in the tiny farming town of Upleta. As a child, he helped grow peanuts, wheat, sugar cane and cotton on 100 acres, he once told the media.
At the age of 26, with a bachelor’s degree from Gujarat University, he came to the US from India to get a second degree in electrical engineering but scenting a business opportunity, invested in a drive-through dairy in Redondo Beach in 1973. Four years later, he bought a small store, Big Saver Foods and slowly began to expand.
Not all was smooth sailing. He took a hit when two of his stores were burnt to the ground during the L.A. riots. Undaunted he picked himself up, looked around and saw the need for affordable markets in the inner city. Hard work combined with business acumen saw him expand rapidly in the early 1990s and at the time of his passing his grocery empire has14 stores that pepper SoCal counties and focus on Hispanic and other ethnic markets.
Worth several million, Solanki received many awards for his leadership in the industry and was considered a grocer with a keen feel for the market and customer. As messages began pouring in, Peter Hui, Founding Chairman of First Choice Bank, where Solanki was a director mourned his passing saying, “I have lost a close friend and valuable business associate.”
He is survived by five children Kelly, twin daughters Jyoti and Preeti, Harish and Dev and five grandchildren with who he spent time on his return from India. The youngest of three brothers, he is also being mourned by the surviving brother Jiva Solanki, the father of Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Naresh Solanki.
He was a successful businessman but Solanki became a public figure along with his wife, with his philanthropic work. A strong supporter of educational and medical charity activities, he was seen in public, mid-August before his trip to India, pledging $10,000 to the physically challenged. In SoCal, the Uka and Nalini Solanki Foundation established the Yadunandan Center for India Studies with a $500,000 endowment in the Cal State University, Long Beach campus. He also helped establish and run the Sardar Patel Award at University of California, Los Angeles. In India, the couple founded The Nalini Solanki-Chatralay School which educates more than 1,200 girls in Junagadh each year. Solanki was born in Feb.1944 to a middle-class family in the tiny farming town of Upleta. As a child, he helped grow peanuts, wheat, sugar cane and cotton on 100 acres, he once told the media.
At the age of 26, with a bachelor’s degree from Gujarat University, he came to the US from India to get a second degree in electrical engineering but scenting a business opportunity, invested in a drive-through dairy in Redondo Beach in 1973. Four years later, he bought a small store, Big Saver Foods and slowly began to expand.
Not all was smooth sailing. He took a hit when two of his stores were burnt to the ground during the L.A. riots. Undaunted he picked himself up, looked around and saw the need for affordable markets in the inner city. Hard work combined with business acumen saw him expand rapidly in the early 1990s and at the time of his passing his grocery empire has14 stores that pepper SoCal counties and focus on Hispanic and other ethnic markets.
Worth several million, Solanki received many awards for his leadership in the industry and was considered a grocer with a keen feel for the market and customer. As messages began pouring in, Peter Hui, Founding Chairman of First Choice Bank, where Solanki was a director mourned his passing saying, “I have lost a close friend and valuable business associate.”
RSS Feed
