In a remarkable career of around four decades in the USA, Canada and India, Radhey Singhal wears his success and brilliance as a pharmacologist with a disarming modesty as though it’s perfectly normal – something anyone could do if they put their mind to it. Later, after his retirement at 58 in 1998 from Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, he once again showed infinite capacity to bounce and make a name for himself in the extremely competitive world of real estate. To add to his glory are two citizenships: Canadian for his outstanding contributions to academics and research, and American for his overall role as a scientist, contributing to the welfare of humanity.
Born on 12 July 1940, in Gulaothi, a small village, Radhey is the youngest of four brothers. His elder brothers are Kanti Prasad, Sri Krishan and Jai Krishan. His parents, Smt. Nannon Devi and Lala Panna Lal, were barely educated but extremely aware of its importance. Lala ji was a cloth merchant and owned a small shop. According to Radhey, “although poor, my father was dedicated to educating us and often made small donations for our school. Shortly thereafter, he was elected as the chairperson of the school’s managing committee, a position of equal influence as that of the principal”.
Radhey attended the only school in the village, the Devanagari School, which was up to grade 10. It was 1946; pointed pens had to be dipped in ink pots, when he saw an advertisement for a ball pen. Surprised by this concept, he stole a rupee from his mother and bought a ball pen. The child was happy about his new luxury, with pride he showed it off in his front pocket. Shri Krishan caught him and beat him enough to make it a life-lesson! The next year, in one of his most memorable experiences, he met and touched Gandhi ji’s feet when he visited Gulaothi. From an early age, Radhey showed a strong streak of independence. He changed his surname from Gupta to Singhal, just before his high school examination because he wanted to be different from his brothers.
Radhey would always worry about his prospects after grade 10 as he watched his father spend a lot on Shri and Jai’s higher education. When he passed his grade 10 exam in 1953, with his mother to intercede on his behalf, his father allowed him to study in Lucknow. There he completed grade 12 in 1955 at DAV College and joined Lucknow University for his B.Sc. (honours) “When I completed my graduation in 1957, I was just 16, and M.Sc. at 18,” he smiles.
A memorable train ride
Once again, Lady Luck sided with him for the most memorable train ride of his life. Recalling those happy memories, Radhey says, “I visited my cousin brother, Beni Prasad Madhav, in Bulandshahr. There, by a happy coincidence, I met his wife’s sister, Nirmala ‘Nimmi’ – who’d be my wife in future. The four of us made a train journey to Nainital which gave Nimmi and I some time to get to know each other; I think I fell in love with her right then”.
In Nainital, Radhey was introduced to Prof. M.L. Gujral, the head of pharmacology department and the principal of King George’s Medical College, Lucknow University. He asked him to enrol for the combined Ph.D. programme in Lucknow from the next session. Radhey had the privilege to study and write his thesis under Dr. K.N. Sareen and Prof. P.S. Krishnan, both of whom had worked under Nobel prize winners.
Radhey submitted his thesis within two years, in 1961, at the age of 20. Nimmi and he got married the same year, despite massive parental opposition from his parents. They reached the USA in April 1962 and Radhey began his work as Research Associate to Dr. Weber. He remembers, “I had written to him requesting for a position in his laboratory, after I discovered that I had quoted him 48 times in my Ph.D. thesis. I had no money but Dr. Sareen partially paid for our plane tickets. Struck speechless, I fell at his feet in gratitude.”
On their arrival at the Indianapolis Airport, they were left with $7. Although the fare to the Indiana School of Medicine was $10–12, a taxi driver agreed to take them there. When they reached their destination, they had no money left and were starving since neither of them had eaten in the past 48 hours. Dr. Weber visited them the next day and loaned $40 against his salary of $400. Five months later, the couple welcomed their first son, Ajay, into the world in September.
Dr. Weber and Radhey had a great partnership for the next three and a half years. They published 15 research papers, including the first one in 1963 in the prestigious journal, Science. In April 1965, Nimmi and Radhey gave birth to Rajiv, their second son. In December, US Immigration served them a notice to leave the country in three weeks as they had overstayed their visa. Dr. Weber asked him to fly to Ottawa the next day and meet Dr. Jacques Lussiere, dean of medicine, and Dr. George Ling, head of pharmacology, Ottawa University, where he was offered a job as lecturer. The same day his visa as a permanent resident was processed. In December 1965, they moved to Canada.
In the next seven years, Radhey progressed to become a full-fledged professor at 30 and the head of department of pharmacology at 32, the youngest ever. When he decided to get back to the USA, Dr. Weber immediately offered him a position as visiting professor of experimental oncology at Indiana University, which he held until October 1994.
Around this time, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, India, hired him as R&D Executive Director, a position he held until his retirement at 58 in 1998. The same year he moved into the real-estate business in Ottawa and later to Minnesota, USA. In 1993, Radhey’s special status as a scientist qualified him for permanent residency in the USA. Today as a citizen of the USA and Canada, he spends his time equally in both the countries. As a medical research scholar of Medical Research Council (MRC), Canada, he generates huge funding and trains dozens of Ph.D. and postdoctoral students and visiting professors from across the globe while at Ottawa University. Together, Radhey published over 500 research papers in top rated journals, and edited nine books in his field.
A matter of the heart
Radhey is involved in several social and charitable organisations at local and national levels and has won several awards for his community service. He served as a member of the fundraising arm for the Federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and closely worked with Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Canada. He was a member of the advisory board of Ottawa Grace Hospital.
He was awarded Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Culture and Prime Minister’s Certificate of Community Services. He also delivered hot meals on wheels to 50 different disabled families every week in Minneapolis during 2000–2010. Radhey is currently serving on the fund raising white coat cabinet advisory committee for Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Ottawa. The couple actively participated in the India Canada Association (ICA) and Indo-Canadian Community Centre (ICCC) spanning over 30 years.
An M.Sc. in educational psychology from Butler University, Nimmi has worked 30+ years as a learning disabilities educator in Canada and the USA. She babysat at home and later worked as a secretary to add to the finances at home. To start her teaching career, she took some courses for which she studied at night. Nimmi was also the founding credit course teacher at the Mukul Hindi School, Ottawa. Two of her sisters, Madhu and Rashmi with her husband, Vijay, also immigrated to Canada while the other four siblings remained in India
The couple sits back and says, “Our strength is our children”. Ajay passed away at 55 due to congestive heart failure. He is survived by wife, Susan, and kids – Kyle (realtor), Christopher (entrepreneur), Bryana (health-care worker) and Vanessa (educationist). Rajiv works as Senior Vice President at Manufacturing & Technology Center (MTC) near Toronto. Niraj, a broker realtor and among the top real-estate professionals in Ottawa, is married to Vanessa Yang, a cyber security official with the government. They have three daughters – Shyla, Sofia and Sienne
Radhey has found a God-sister in Vimla Sharma who filled a big void in his life. The couple is extremely close to Girish Mehra, former High Commissioner of India to Canada, and his wife, Kamla.
The Singhal couple believes in the coexistence of faith in God and science. Anytime that they found themselves in turbulent times, God sent them angels to guide and help them.