DENTISTRY & PHILANTHROPY

DR AMARJIT SINGH MARWAH

A TRUE COMMUNITY LEADER

Merit, hard work and a sincere heart are key characteristics of a good human being. Fame follows. His story is an inspiration. One just needs to have the will to help others, and God paves the way ahead.

A quote you often quote:

Stay true to your culture and tradition. People may find you strange at first but will ultimately accept you as you are.

Ancestry & Birthplace:

Bhera, Shahpur, Punjab (united India)

Adopted City

Kotkapura, Punjab

Residence:

Malibu, California

Dental Surgeon

Malibu, California

Founder

Sharing, Caring & Service Foundation

DR AMARJIT SINGH MARWAH

On the road to success and fame too come intersections – where we pause, think and observe. They have stories to tell. An intersection named Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah Square is an honor the city of Los Angeles has given to this Indian-origin dentist, philanthropist and visionary who landed on the US shores over seven decades ago.

At over 96, this nonagenarian feels his life’s purpose is yet to be fulfilled and totally discounts his monumental contributions to the Indo-American community in the US and to his people back home, and how he has touched the lives of thousands of people on both sides of the Atlantic. He has held official positions of responsibility in Los Angeles and has been an inspirational Citizen Diplomat.

“God gives you the privilege to do it, and that’s what I do. It might give incentive for other people. I hope to do things for the underprivileged. That is my wish.”

DR AMARJIT SINGH MARWAH

BORN WITH A WINNING STREAK

Dr Marwah is associated with several non-profit and for-profit bodies including Amarjit S Marwah, DDS, the International Punjabi Society and Khalsa Heritage Foundation. He is a Director of the State Bank of India, Los Angeles, and co-founded Bank of Punjab which is committed to community service in India and now has a branch in Toronto too.

Only recently, the Howard University College of Dentistry (HUCD), his alma mater in the US, received a state-of-the-art dental clinic, made possible by a generous donation from him. And it fittingly has been named Dr Amarjit Marwah Comprehensive Care Clinic.

He is among the people who have a fire within to reach higher goals, who work hard work in large measures to keep this fire alive and burning.

A SCHOLAR ARRIVES ONTHE US SHORES

Amarjit earned his BDS degree from Bombay University and was among the notable few to win a tough competition and get a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in dentistry. In 1953, he landed in the US. “There were hardly any Indians in the US then – maybe not more than 50. Most Americans had not seen a Sikh; they called me Santa Claus despite my black beard.”

He earned his MS from the University of Illinois and his doctoral degree in dentistry from Howard University, Washington DC, in 1956 under another fellowship. He taught at the same university while practicing part-time. Under an exchange program in 1959, US Public Health Services sent him to JJ Hospital, Bombay, as an exchange professor where he was offered a probationary job that he politely refused and returned to the US in 1961, this time with his family and to West Coast. “The weather in Chicago wasn’t too friendly.” Soon thereafter, he started his full-fledged practice becoming the first Indo-American to do so and wrote numerous scientific papers on dentistry that earned him a name and celebrity status. He came to be known as the dentist to the stars.

And to say, the phone in his third-floor office did not ring for eight days since he moved in paying a 10-year lease. “I was scared. How would I pay the bills? My first patient was one Mr Captain and that’s how God helped me ahead.”

He was the first Indian to build his own house on Baldwin Hill in 1962. He would open his home on Sundays to all Indian students who wished to come down. “We started in 1962 with 20 people and by to 1969 when we would have 400 boys for lunch. My wife cooked for them and my children washed the dishes.”

He was born to a family of physicians on February 4, 1926. Both his grandfathers were physicians under the British and so was his father, Dr Chanda Singh. Not only was Amarjit a brilliant student but also a star basketball player in high school, college and university. Known as the pioneer of basketball in Malwa, he started playing the sport – not very popular back then – in 1938.

After high school, he completed his FSc from King Edward Medical College, the only college in India with a dentistry wing at those times. Studies apart, Amarjit remained an actively participated in freedom movements, including the Quit India Movement.

When the partition happened, Amarjit was 21. He can never forget the day his family left Lahore behind. “It was August 11, 1947. We were being transferred to a military convoy under heavy police protection. It was raining heavily and people on the streets were baying for blood. There were bodies all around.”

Within a few months of reaching Kotkapura, he was appointed a first-class officer with the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) government.

Dr Marwah is one of the

top 100 influential Sikhs in the world!

Mayor Tom Bradley appointed him on his cabinet as a commissioner in 1975 and later the chairman of different city commissions for 18 long years. “Although it was my civic service to LA, I had the privilege of hosting Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Inder Gujral, VP Singh, President Zail Singh and other dignitaries from India, the US and other countries.” He had an illustrious clientele too – Elizabeth Taylor, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Mohammad Ali, etc. His meritorious academic record, sincere hard work and courage have won him worldwide respect.

AN INDIAN AT HEART, SOUL AND SERVICE

Dr Marwah’s strong sense of morality and charity comes from his late mother, Sardarni Vidhya Wanti. Despite being thousands of miles away from his roots, he has followed the sanctums of his religion proudly and unwaveringly. In 1962, when his three daughters enrolled in a private Catholic school in Los Angeles, he ensured they were free to dress in Indian attire.

In 1969, to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak ji, he donated a building in Vermont for the first gurudwara in the US.

Dr Marwah ably stepped up to fill the need to promote Indian culture, which led to the formation of the Indian American Society which set up the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation under his guidance. He was the key person to motivate the sister-city relationship between Bombay and Los Angeles in 1968 and was elected as the Chairman of the Bombay-Los Angeles Friendship Society.

In 1974, he was made the City Commissioner owing to his equal involvement with the Indian and American communities. Under his chairmanship of 18 years, Cultural Heritage Commission and the Hollywood Art Commission declared as many as 300 sites as protected monuments. Already on the Boards of the State Bank of India, he along with a friend from India launched the Bank of Punjab in 1994 in the US, based on the American model.

Through the Sharing, Caring and Service (SCS) Foundation, Dr Marwah has been giving back to India, where he has built the KK Marwah Girls College and an auditorium in the Mahindra College for underprivileged children of Punjab in the name of his wife, Kuljit Kaur. Besides, he has adopted two villages, Guru Ki Dhab (Faridkot) and Guru Nanak Basti (Ludhiana) that today have transformed into the best villages on the US model. “All for my mother country India.” He has supported many health and educational opportunities in India.

WIFE’S UNWAVERING SUPPORT

Amarjit’s marriage to Kuljit in 1949 was an arranged one. “On our first meeting, we sat on the far ends of a table, without uttering a word.” He credits her support to his fame. “She had a big heart and always supported philanthropy. She didn’t love money at all, didn’t care where I spent it. Because of her, I have been able to do all the things I have in India and in the US. Whatever God gave us, we gave a part of it to the poor.”

Kuljit was also behind the Hollywood gurudwara and the chandelier that now graces its ceiling. “I was against donating the building that we had initially bought as an investment but did so upon her insistence. Later, people requested a chandelier but I was not keen.” Amarjit had mentioned about chandelier request to her just a week before her death in 2018. “She told me to not look at the cost but that it was going to be put in God’s home. She passed away the day after they finished installing it.”

In her memory, Amarjit funds a fellowship at the Illinois College of Dentistry. “I am sharing whatever I have with my community. God has been kind to me from day 1.”

What is freedom?

I have been a part of India’s freedom movement. We have won our Independence by paying a heavy price. Always keep your motherland in your heart and do whatever you can in your capacity to serve it.

DR AMARJIT SINGH MARWAH

GALLERY

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