Vandana Kumar

Vandana Kumar passed away August 30, 2022, at age 57 in her residence in Austin, TX. Though her passing was peaceful, internally she had fought a virulent strain of cancer for over three years. Through two surgeries, 18 weeks of chemotherapy, numerous doctor visits and many ups and downs throughout her journey, she remained confident, resolute, and determined to live out her final months with dignity and without fear. She died at her home of 26 years, surrounded by family: her husband, two children, two brothers, both a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and two parents-in-law.

Vandana was born and raised in Roorkee, India to a university professor of Paleontology, and a loving mother. She attended IIT Roorkee as an electronics and computer engineer. At 21, she married Anurag Kumar, and soon emigrated to the US to start a new life. After completing her MS in Computer Engineering from Wayne State University with a perfect 4.0, she worked for EDS in Michigan for 6 years. She joined IBM Austin where she became a life-long employee and a much-loved Director in their Systems division. She also completed her MBA at UT Austin while working full time at IBM.

Vandana was also an accomplished painter and seamstress, with an encyclopedic knowledge of textile history. She loved collecting vintage saris, and was a dedicated scholar of history, spirituality, and science.

In her later years, she was a committed member of Pratham, a non-profit global organization dedicated to educating children in India. She co-founded the Austin Chapter and was the co-President for the first 10 years. She helped raise over $10M, impacting the lives of over 200,000 young girls. She was a beloved pillar in the Indian community in Austin and supported many charitable organizations.

She is survived by her husband of over 35 years, Anurag Kumar, her two children Mala and Abhay, her mother Santosh Goel and two brothers Anurag and Gaurav Goel, her parents-in-law Swarup and Shanti Agarwal, and many nieces and nephews and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, Vandana’s parting wishes were to direct any offerings or condolences to Pratham. You can find a link to their dedicated donation page here: https://give.prathamusa.org/give/426014/#!/donation/checkout

You can watch a video replay of the service at (2 seperate videos):

Click to watch Video 1

https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/authorise.php?k=1661988487205651

Click to watch Video 2

https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/authorise.php?k=1662330848206154