IndiaPost.com - Community grieves at untimely demise of Mahadevan Iyer

LOS ANGELES: The Indian American community has reacted with shock at the untimely demise of Mahadevan (Dave) Iyer, the popular District Sales Manager with Air India, on July 13. He was just 50.

Dave, who died in New York, had suffered a massive heart attack at the airport on July 12 and was admitted to a local hospital. Lalit Kapur, Director; Air India (West Coast), said, "As you can imagine this is a big loss and understandably Air India is in deep shock and we are grieving the demise of an extremely loved colleague and friend.

May God bless his soul and give his family the strength to bear this loss.'' Mahadevan Iyer was associated with Air India office in Los Angles for more than a decade. He played a prominent role in the setting up of direct flights from Los Angeles to India. He was a very prominent member of the community. He was also very actively associated with the Hindu Temple Society of southern California as a director and officer and played an active role in the construction of Siva complex and installation of statues.

Mahadevan Iyer is survived by his wife, Kalyani, and two sons, Varun and Eshan. He came to the US from India in 1987 knowing only a handful of people and quickly proceeded to form many strong friendships and secure a stable future for his family. He was known to never refuse a helping hand to anybody. He will be remembered for his humble persona and extremely enthusiastic outlook on life and his work. His educational background included an LLB and a diploma in Management Studies. Dave, as he was commonly known, had worked in the airline industry for over 25 years and served as District Sales Manager for Air India, Los Angeles, since 1996.

He was instrumental in promoting the airline first as an offline station until 2004 and later as an online station when the first flights commenced in June 2004. Dave had a tremendous rapport with the travel fraternity which helped Air India establish itself as a dominant airline in the market. He was always positive, helpful, and friendly to everyone who came into contact with him.

He will be missed by everybody in Air India not only in LA but also in the entire US and India as he made many friends over the years. Dave proved to be a tremendous asset to Air India. His funeral will take place on Thursday July 19, at 11am at Rice Funeral Home, 5310 Torrance Blvd, Torrance CA.