Lt. Omar Quazi Huda Ret.

On Sunday, December 4, 2022, Lt. Col. Omar Quazi Huda (retired), loving husband and father, passed away peacefully in his home in Virginia, surrounded by his family at age seventy-two ( إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُو). Omar spent his life as a beloved military leader, activist, and avid reader of history, literature, and theology.

Lt. Col Omar Huda was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He joined the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) College Sarghoda at the age of twelve within the 13th entry. He was the only Bengali to become the Head Boy of the entire college. By the age of twenty-one, he was commissioned as an officer after completing his training with the forty-first Pakistani Military Academy long course. He served in the Pakistan Army and, upon the independence of Bangladesh, joined the newly formed Bangladesh Army. He was a very distinguished officer who was assigned rare appointments, one of which was being the Term Commander of the Bangladesh Military Academy.

After Bangladesh became independent, all officers stranded in Pakistan were taken to various repatriated camps. It was during these two years in Peshawar, Pakistan, that he found his passion, poetry, and religion through the writings of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Upon his release, he served in the Bangladeshi army. In 1980, he was consigned to the U.S. Army and was stationed in Hawaii.

With a newfound love for America, he moved to Los Angeles with a full scholarship to pursue his Master’s in Business Administration from Pepperdine University in 1982. He built a professional and intellectual home at the University of California Los Angeles, pursuing a career in IT while furthering his studies in Abrahamic religions at the University’s Center for the Study of Religion.

He dedicated much of his life to the Bangladeshi community. He spent six years working with Rep. Brad Sherman and the Bangladeshi Federation of Los Angeles as Chairman of LA’s Bangladeshi Advisory Council. A highlight of his term was helping to organize LA’s Little Bangladesh neighborhood in 2010. Hundreds of Bangladeshis across generations have proudly marched with him in the city’s annual Bangladesh Day Parade.

After 9/11, he became passionate about educating Americans about the injustices facing Muslim communities through emails, letters, and op-ed pieces in the LA Times. He was a provocateur and never shied away from a good debate.

Lt. Col Omar Huda embodied Walt Whitman’s quote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” He was both a distinguished military leader and a determined advocate for peace. He was a devout Muslim who completed his Hajj yet embraced Interfaith cooperation. He traveled the world and lived on both coasts of the US.

He was best known for his larger-than-life personality, fierce determination, and generous spirit. He is survived by his loving wife, Zarin, their daughters, Karishma (m. Shehriyar Farooq) and Amberine (m. Robert Ruffins), his grandchildren, Amarah and Zain Farooq, and four older siblings, Aktar Huda, Zeenat Khan, Tamjid Kazi Huda, and Shahir Kazi Huda.