Obituary of Harshad Pancholi

He always had space at the table for one more.

Harshad Vasantary Pancholi. Adventurer, Technology - Enthusiast, Storyteller, Grandfather Born August 7, 1937 in Nairobi, Kenya. Died November 21, 2025 in Toronto, Canada

One of Harshad’s favourite places was sitting around his kitchen table with a cup of tea and one of his wife Ulupi’s tea biscuits, regaling family and friends with stories of his many adventures and discussing the latest technological advances. Even at the end of his life, he was fascinated with the promise of Artificial Intelligence and would spend hours learning about its inner workings. He leaves behind a legacy defined by his generosity, wisdom, and the warmth he shared with everyone around him.

Harshad was born to Vasantray and Anupben Pancholi, a deeply spiritual family who were lifelong followers of the Theosophical Society. Harshad and his siblings; Manuben, Navneet, Dinuben, Hasmukh and Devu moved with their mother to India during World War 2 but returned to East Africa when he was 10.

He excelled in school earning a Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship to study engineering at Faraday House in London, England. For Harshad, one of the highlights of living in London was going to Harrods Department Store. A distant Pancholi namesake, introduced him to Harrods and while walking through the women’s clothing department told him that bras were excellent to wear on ones’ head in the winter to keep warm. Although Harshad never bought this unusual hat, he would always go there to buy his toothpaste.

After completing his professional engineering degree, he returned to East Africa and started working with East African Post and Telecom where he travelled throughout Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania setting up telecommunication systems. When he was in Uganda, his staff in the drafting department tried to show their appreciation to him by offering him a bag full of gold ore that they had “acquired” during their weekend raids of nearby gold mines. With great tact, Harshad declined this generous offer. During this time, Harshad met a team from the United Nations and Bell who were supporting the telecom initiative. They encouraged Harshad to start a new adventure in Canada working with Bell.

Before he left for Canada, he met and married Ulupi with the promise that she would join him in Canada in 4 months. Harshad did not know much about Canada and was shocked when he landed in Montreal during the winter. It was so cold he would walk from shop to shop just to stay warm. Luckily, he was granted a transfer to Toronto just in time for Ulupi to join him. They started their married life together living near High Park. Soon, their daughter Meera was born. They built a house founded on strong family values and community service. There was always space at their table for one more. When the Ugandan exodus happened, Harshad and Ulupi opened their home to many family members and friends including a professor from Makerere University who came into their home with only a doormat rolled under his arm. He kept the doormat as he wanted to remember all the people who had stepped over the mat to come visit him. Harshad also had many adventures with family and friends as they travelled around the globe. In later life, his only complaint when cruising the Mediterranean was that he could not get a reliable WIFI connection.

Harshad was also one of the original members of Brahmin Society of Toronto and as his daughter Meera got older and joined garba competitions he became a proud dance dad, even making a wooden tree one year that was used a prop.

With Bell, Harshad learnt about Toronto as he drove around the city as part of the surveyor group that was planning for the construction of telephone and fibre optic cables. Harshad did not enjoy outside work and he left Bell to join CNCP to oversee their latest telecommunication systems. His proudest career achievement from that time of his life was when he was selected to be part of a Canadian team that went to Ottawa to successfully lobby the government to open competition in Canadian Radio and Communication. Harshad was then selected as a delegate to represent Canadian telecommunication interests at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. When Harshad went to the UN, he got an education about the inner workings of global politics. It was China’s first year as a member of the assembly. When the telecom hearings started, the Chinese delegation noticed that they did not have their name in gold letters behind the chairman with all the other countries so they protested and the proceedings were suspended until their oversight could be rectified. After coming back from Geneva, Harshad become a private consultant eventually accepting a job with Northern Telecom. When Northern Telecom closed, Harshad embarked on a new adventure teaching telecom at Humber College. His first act was to throw out the textbook declaring it outdated. He soon realized that he although he was an expert in telecommunications, he needed to learn more about teaching, so, in his late 50’s he decided to go back to school and complete a master’s in education at Michigan University.

After retiring from teaching, Harshad undertook his most rewarding job, as the proud grandparent of Ella and Alisha. They spent many exciting summers building epic projects ranging from a working replica of the Canada Arm to constructing a 3-D model of the Taj Mahal.

On November 21, 2025, surrounded by his family, Harshad embarked on his last adventure. He will be missed. We are forever grateful for the time we shared. 

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS, PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO THE DAILY BREAD FOOD BANK, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE

ॐ ॐ ॐ