Ashok Varma, born June 26, 1945 in Allahabad, India, passed peacefully on Friday, November 29, 2024 in his Lake Forest home surrounded by his loving family.

Born to Shanti Swaroop and Sheela Devi Varma, he has four siblings: Satish Varma, Nita Saxena (passed), Pradeep Varma, and Kusum Sattapathy (passed). Ashok moved to Michigan in 1970 after marrying the love of his life, Sushma Sinha. They had two daughters,  Richa and Sangeeta. In 1981, Ashok and the family relocated to to Southern California.

After graduating from Banaras Hindu University, he was a mechanical engineer for 47 years until retirement.  He worked for Hindustan Motors, Ford Motors, Ford Aerospace and Boeing among other firms in between. Hardworking and dedicated, he would go above and beyond to make sure his projects were perfect and always on time.  Always striving to do better, he returned to school in order to earn his masters in project management.

Ashok was a very social and charismatic person who loved to lend a hand to anyone who needed him. One of his biggest joys was being a volunteer at Saddleback Memorial Hospital. He enjoyed the art of conversation and debate, he loved jokes and pranks, and enjoyed a good party (especially if there was Black Label within reach). An avid bridge player, talented gardener and voracious reader, he enjoyed his life every day, every moment.

He and Sushma spent many later years traveling and touring the world together. He always focused on making every activity, celebration or milestone memorable and special for his wife, children and friends.

Ashok was a devoted family man and would do anything for them.  He was most happy when all his family was together, those near and far. Being a father and grandfather (Nanaji) came easily to him as he loved all children, and was devoted to his grandsons. He made sure to be there to help when they needed him and was always ready with his solid reliable advice. He did that so well that he was a father figure, friend and confident to many other people, including friends, coworkers and friends of his children.

He is survived by his wife, Sushma, his two daughters Richa Varma Lal and Sangeeta Varma Martinez, his two sons-in-law, Roman Lal and James A. Martinez III, and his two grandsons Rohan and Rithyk Lal. He was very loved and made a real imprint with everyone he came into contact with. He will be deeply missed.

Services will be held Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 10:00 a.m. at McCormick & Son Mortuary, located at 25000 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Woods, CA.

To view webcasting of services, click HERE .