Prakash Navinkant Desai, MD, 74

Prakash Navinkant Desai, MD, 74, of Oak Park, died peacefully on Jan. 5, 2015 at the University of Illinois Chicago Hospital surrounded by his family. Born in Baroda, India on Feb. 18, 1940, the fourth of 10 children to the late Navinkant and Valima Desai, he engaged many with his dynamic personality, intellect and passion for humanity from an early age. He excelled in academics and debate and graduated from Baroda Medical School at the age of 20. He came to the United States for his medical internship in 1965, arriving in Chicago with just a few dollars to his name. The charismatic immigrant developed a wide circle of friends, both fellow immigrants and native born. 

His professional career began at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, which soon led to working at the Illinois Department of Mental Health (IDMH) as the Region Two administrator from 1973 to 1978. He worked at the West Side Veterans Health Care facility (now Jesse Brown VA) for 26 years, the first 16 as chief of psychiatry and the next 10 as chief of staff for all the medical and surgical services. At the same time, he had a professorial appointment at the University of Illinois Chicago where he worked the last five years on a full-time basis and also serving as director of education for the University of Illinois Hospital. He was admired for his strong work ethic, fairness, honesty, love of a good joke, walking through the halls, holding doors for patients, smiling and gifting all with the twinkle in his eyes. 

Dr. Desai was actively involved in the governance of the American Psychiatric Association for more than 25 years ending up as the speaker of its assembly, the house of delegates representing over 70 branches. His areas of academic expertise were cross-cultural psychiatry, Hinduism and Gandhi. 

He published two books, Health and Medicine in the Hindu Tradition (Crossroads, New York, NY, ’89) and Triumph and Tragedy: Psychohistorical Decisions of Mahatma Gandhi with Hy Muslin as his co-author (Haranand, New Delhi, India, ’98), along with several book chapters, and over a dozen papers in professional journals. He has received numerous awards for his work, among which are the Oscar Pfeister Award (in recognition of his work on religion and psychiatry and the George Tarjan Award (given annually to an international medical graduate of distinction, both from the American Psychiatric Association and the Bruce Boyer Award (for the paper “Selfhood and Context: Some Indian Solutions”) from the American Society for Psychological Anthropology. 

His accomplishments only complemented his kind and generous spirit. Countless friends and family consulted him for guidance in personal and professional issues. He genuinely cared, listened, and advised those who sought him out. Such wisdom, generosity, wit, and joy are found in but a rare few. Prakash Desai touched many, who are better for it.

Prakash Navinkant Desai is survived by his wife, Alice; his daughters, Reshma (Barb) and Natasha (Matt); and his grandchildren, Sophia Desai and Huck and Tuesday Solomon. 

Visitation will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, followed by a memorial service at 3 p.m. at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 7750 W. Cermak Road, Forest Park 60130. 

To honor his dedication to the Indian community, please send donations to Apna Ghar, 4350 N. Broadway, Chicago 60613 or to the Indo-American Center, 6328 N. California, Chicago 60659.