Obituary: Helena Kaushik (1944-2013)

Helena Kaushik, wife of Pace University Professor Surendra Kaushik and a  resident of Briarcliff Manor, NY since 1981, passed away at home on Saturday, August 24, 2013.

Ms. Kaushik was born in Detroit on July 22, 1944. Her grandparents had migrated to Lowell, Massachussetts from Poland around 1870 and her father in 1911 from Poland. She earned her MS in Nursing Administration and board certifications in geriatric and orthopedic nursing. As a caring, friendly, compassionate and thoroughly professional R.N., she worked for several hospitals in Boston and New York. From 1970 to 1981, Helena worked at Deaconess Hospital and New England Baptist Hospital in Boston and as Director of the Health Center at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. From 1981 to 1984, Helena was R.N. at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Westchester and from 1985 to 1991 as a triage nurse at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Helena was committed to women’s empowerment through higher education.

In 1999, a college for women in India was dedicated to her as the Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women’s College (www.helenakaushik.org). More than 1,300 women have graduated from the college since 2002.  Helena’s cremated remains were interned at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, NY on 18 September 2013. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Helena Kaushik Education Foundation, P.O. Box 234, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510. 

The Briarcliff Rotary extends its heartfelt condolences to Prof. Kaushik on his bereavement.