Ashoke Chatterjee, 79, of Wilmington, DE, passed away peacefully in his home on September 24, 2024. Born in Lahore, India, to the late Chhaya (Banerjee) and Nitya Gopal Chatterjee, Ashoke grew up in New Delhi, India and graduated from Bengal Engineering College at the University of Calcutta before emigrating to the United States to pursue a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. After completing his education, he remained in Chattanooga and joined the DuPont Company as an engineer. In 1971, Ashoke married his wife, Lakshmisri C. Chatterjee, and they settled in Chattanooga where they started a family. In 1980, Ashoke accepted a new assignment with DuPont in their Newark, DE, location. As his work with DuPont progressed, it brought wonderful opportunities for expat assignments in Shanghai, China, and in Bombay and Hyderabad, India. Ashoke enjoyed having the opportunity to work with professionals overseas and collaborate on international ventures. His many international work assignments also allowed him to bring his family on trips abroad, and he never missed an opportunity to explore different parts of Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and South America during his professional travels.
After working over 40 years with DuPont, Ashoke and Lakshmisri decided to retire in the familiar, culture-rich community of Wilmington, DE. Their dream retirement was shortened by Lakshmisri’s battle with pancreatic cancer in 2016, but Ashoke took careful and attentive care of her throughout her illness. Following Lakshmisri’s death, Ashoke continued to cultivate his passion for practical and informative community service by sponsoring the dedication of the Lakshmisri C. Chatterjee Memorial Classroom at the Hindu Temple Association of Wilmington. He also created free educational seminars to help retirees navigate Social Security and Medicare, and to help young professionals learn about financial planning. These endeavors spawned a namesake scholarship fund for enterprising college students in the greater Wilmington area. Ashoke enjoyed traveling with his family both domestically and internationally, being of assistance to his community and helping others, being in the company of his large family, spending quality time with his granddaughter, listening to classical music, playing the harmonica and card games, watching soccer and cricket, being “Grand-paw” for his grand-pets, and reminding people of the importance of voting.
Ashoke is survived by his daughters Tiara Chatterjee and Pia D. Chatterjee (Robert Kuhn); granddaughter Maya A. Kuhn; sister Nandita Banerjee; brothers-in-law Amitabha Chakraborty (Monica), Debabrata Chakraborty (Roma Debabrata), Subhas Chakraborty, Shibaji Chakraborty; and his sisters-in-law, Shanti Chakraborty and Sunita Chakraborty. He is also survived by 5 nieces, 5 nephews, 5 grandnieces, and 5 grandnephews. He is predeceased by his wife, Lakshmisri C. Chatterjee; and brothers-in-law Partha Chakraborty, Jawaharlal Chakraborty, and Ranjan Banerjee.
Memorial Services will be held at 2pm EST on Saturday, October 5th at Chandler Funeral Home, 2506 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE. The family kindly asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Ashoke’s memory (with respect for his beloved wife Lakshmisri) to: Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 1500 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 200, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (www.pancan.org).
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