NE NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON, JUNE 30
Influential Congressmen paid tributes to two eminent Indian-Americans Charanjit Singh from California and Pritam Singh Grewal from New Jersey in the House of Representatives this week.
Charanjit Singh, who passed away on May 12, was a successful family and business man, and a member of the Central Valley with his children and wife, said Congressman Jim Costa.
Singh was born in India in 1950 and came to the US in 1988 from Ludhiana, Punjab. He and his family settled in Los Angeles, California managing multiple convenience stores.
He was a hard worker and provided for his two sons, daughter, and his wife. In 2003, he moved his family to Fresno, California.
“Living in the Central Valley, Singh flourished his businesses. He was a business owner of purchased and newly built stores. Singh had over 30 gas stations and liquor stores,” Costa said on the House floor on Monday.
“He could prioritise his time, manage multiple stores, and have time for his family. Singh would attend many events in the Central Valley, including many of my own, and he would often share his wisdom about the Sikh community to me,” he said as he urged his Congressional colleagues to join him in celebrating the great life of Singh.
Describing Grewal as one the North Jersey’s most compassionate community leaders, Congressman Josh Gottheimer said on the House floor that the Indian-American Sikh was truly an unselfish and deeply caring man who made an impact on everyone who crossed his path.
“As a founding member of Glen Rock’s Sikh Gurudwara, Pritam helped build a safe space for North Jersey’s Sikh community to come together and worship. Having personally visited several times, I can attest to the special atmosphere he instilled in this important Glen Rock establishment,” he said.
“Pritam always felt a calling to promote quality education throughout his community. He taught mechanical engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and later partnered with his brother, Amarjit, to establish the Grewal, Harchand Singh and Jagir Kaur Memorial Scholarship of Ramapo College, in memory of his late parents,” Gottheimer said.
He said Pritam was also widely known throughout Hackensack University Medical Centre, where the trauma team took care of him after an accident in 2012.
“While Pritam is no longer with us, his spirit, legacy, and impact on North Jersey will live on forever,” the Congressman added.
