Listen Here
By: Cory William Berlekamp
Twitter: @cberlekamp
Email: coryberlekamp1@gmail.com
On Saturday, Nov. 4, Shiv Gupta, retired professor of the University of Findlay, died at age 87. Gupta lived at 310 Frazer St., next to the University, and stayed active around Findlay even after his retirement from the school in 2015.
Professor Gupta spent 45 years teaching at the University in the College of Business, while also working in the community. Along with his years of influence on the school and alumni, Gupta donated money to the new Center for Student Life and College of Business building on campus. The school honored Gupta and his late wife by giving students a chance to learn in the Shiv K. and Elizabeth S. Gupta Grand Auditorium in the new building.
Professor of Business Patricia Abels has worked at UF since 2006 and shared more than just a department with Gupta.
“I first came to know Professor Gupta when I was a student at Ashland University where he taught part time as an adjunct professor. Of all my professors, he is the only one in my master’s program that I remember and he was just an amazing professor and individual,” Abels said. “I knew professor Gupta taught full time here so I came here as a result of that and it was a real honor to work with him.”
Gupta brought both his knowledge and joy to those who worked around him in the business department. During his last few semesters at Findlay, Poojaben Patel, UF alumni, assisted him with his classes.
“I was close with him because he was also from India and we use to talk about things in our own language,” Patel said. “He was a very positive person but the one thing is that he was very kind to everyone, he understood [students] problems and always tried to help them a lot.”
Although he mainly taught marketing and business strategy, Gupta’s favorite was entrepreneurship according to Abels. He also worked with international students and would host cookouts in his backyard for students and faculty.
“He was like a father figure to us, we would take him to the casino and he’d say ‘here is some money, go gamble!’,” Abels said “I believe when he started here there was maybe only eight faculty [in the college of business] at that time so he really had a lot he was involved with here on campus with things he implemented here at the university as well as the community itself.”
Gupta is survived by six children, 11 grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. According to his family, a celebration of his life will be held on November 18, 2017, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the new College of Business. They also state Gupta asked that, instead of flowers, people donate to any of his four scholarships he had set up here at UF.
Those who would like to attend Professor Gupta’s celebration of life are asked to RSVP at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AINmmRg-B7dR8jEl_utJZ-cwGq8demzDY6lcijKbVGE/edit.
