Davendra K. Agarwal

Davendra ‘Dave’ Kumar Agarwal, 82, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loved ones on 6 January 2019 at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. He fought a brief but ferocious battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

He was born on 1 December 1936 in Moradabad, India to Amir Singh Agarwal and Chandravati Singhal Agarwal.

Dave grew up in India. He attended the Indian Institute of Technology Karaghpur (IIT KGP), which was the first IIT to be established. He graduated top in his class and received a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Geophysics on 1 June 1956.

He then traveled to London, England where he studied at The University of London’s Imperial College of Science and Technology where on 6 August 1959 he received a Master of Science in Geophysics. He was presented his diploma at graduation by the Queen Mother. While in London he met the beautiful, incomparable Roshanak Zarrabi and fell in love. His first job was for Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI) and his first assignment was in Iran. After meeting Roshan’s family in Iran and gaining their approval, they married on 22 March 1961 in Tehran, Iran. They were happily married for almost 58 years.

Dave and Roshan lived in Iran, Lebanon and England before being transferred to Houston, Texas in August 1978, where they have lived ever since. Wherever they lived they made life-long friends. They traveled extensively throughout the world and shared their love of road trips, and wanderlust with their children. After working for GSI for over 15 years, Dave worked for Cities Service for many years. He later worked for Newmont before co-founding a consulting company called Interactive Interpretation and Training (IIT) with Les Denham. They successfully ran their company for 24 years.

Dave was an active member of several Geologic and Geophysical Societies including the Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH), where he served 2 years as President and continued to volunteer thereafter. He also served with the Southeast Asian Chamber of Commerce. Dave enjoyed being with his family, traveling, going on cruises, playing bridge, reading, following the stock market, politics, good food (particularly Iranian and Indian home cooking), the Houston Texans, visiting friends, and volunteering at the GSH and other organizations. He was recognized for his contributions to the many organizations he served.

Dave is survived by his beloved wife Roshan Agarwal, his children Rita Agarwal MD (Jon Burch MD) Palo Alto, CA, Ravin Agarwal MBA (Dina) Chicago, IL, and Bijan Agarwal MBA, PhD (Negin Samizadeh) Jakarta, Indonesia; his grandchildren Alexander Burch, Arvand Agarwal, Nadia Agarwal, Christopher Burch, David Burch, Rayan Agarwal, and Niko Agarwal; his nieces Mojgan Withers (John Withers JD), Sherri Hekmat, Bita Aminian, and nephews Byron Zarrabi, Shahin Hekmat, Rajat Agarwal, Navneet Agarwal, Sanjeev Agarwal and many other friends and relatives.

Dave was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a kind, caring, brilliant, thoughtful, insightful man, a pioneer in oil exploration, a quiet man with the heart of an adventurer who was considered a second father or grandfather by many. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

Dave was preceded in death by his parents, sister, brothers and beloved mother-in-law Mrs. Monirsadat Zarrabi.

A Memorial and Celebration of Life will be held at Forest Park Westheimer Funeral Home, 12800 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX at 10am on 19 January 2019. A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation at https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/PFFTribute/DavendraAgarwal. If the link does not work, please go the tribute pages under the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Website and search Davendra Agarwal. https://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/

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