In Loving Memory 

Jyotika Shah was born on December 17, 1955 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, the second daughter to Jayantilal Shah and Gunvantiben Shah. She grew up with an older sister and three younger brothers near J.J. Hospital before the family moved to Juhu in the northern part of the city. 

She studied at Bhavan’s College and received her masters of science in Botany and Microbiology from St. Xavier’s College, one of Bombay’s oldest universities. She went on to teach courses in garden art there, including the art of bonsai, which was novel in India at the time. 

From her earliest years, she was bright, keen to learn, adventurous, charismatic and wickedly funny. She enjoyed experimenting with recipes, and took courses in alternative medicine. Generous and empathetic, with a strong moral compass, she was devoted to her family, especially after the untimely death of her father Jayantilal Shah. 

In 1985, she married Rajendra Shah. She was 29 at the time, which was later than the societal norms of the time, and the result of her dedication to her own education and career. In that sense, she was fearless and ahead of her time.

In her 40s, she immigrated to the United States with her children, bringing her courage and strength of spirit as she crossed an ocean, leaving behind her family and everything she had ever known. 

She brought her lifelong drive to study and work hard, performing a range of jobs including as a grocery store clerk and bank teller before settling into a career as a paraprofessional at Passaic County public schools. 

In the US, she forged relationships easily with people from all backgrounds and ethnicities. Though life in a new country wasn’t always easy, she never gave up or quit. Her effort created the foundation of stable and prosperous lives for her children. 

Jyotika was an unparalleled mother. She was loving, caring, and nurturing, all while balancing work and domestic responsibilities. She instilled the importance of education in her children, and she insisted on speaking her native language, Gujarati, at home to impart a cultural legacy on them. 

Even as her children grew up, married and forged their own careers, she looked out for them constantly. She welcomed her children’s spouses and doted on her grandchildren. And she maintained close ties with her relatives and family in the US and India. 

Jyotika’s greatest test in life came in the form of a diagnosis of idiopathic interstitial lung disease in her early sixties, a condition with no known cause and little treatment, which forced her into early retirement. 

As her condition worsened, she turned to her Jain faith for even greater resilience and resolve. In the winter of 2022, she became gravely ill and was admitted to the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai hospital. Miraculously, she survived, and her tremendous will powered her through a long and arduous hospital stay as she awaited a new lung. 

To watch her come back from a massive near-death experience at her age and prepare for surgery over five months in the ICU was awe-inspiring and perhaps not altogether surprising given her record of bravery. And of course, she did it with a smile on her face and making friends in the hospital along the way. 

After her transplant, she knew and appreciated the gift of life that she had received. She was meticulous about her complicated drug regimen and intuitive and smart about her own health. Her lung transplant allowed her to attend her daughter’s wedding and see her youngest grandchild become a feisty and strong-willed little girl, not unlike her grandma. 

She is survived by her husband Rajendra Shah, her son Geet Shah (Tanisha Shah), her daughter Jill Shah (Rishi Khakhkhar), and her grandchildren, Ekaai Shah and Imara Shah. 

She also leaves behind her mother Gunvantiben Shah; her sister Jayshree Shah; her brothers, Ravindra Shah (Meena Shah), Pankaj Shah (Priti Shah) and Naresh Shah (Monika Shah); and her nieces and nephews: Jinal Shah, Sunal Shah, Jena Shah, Samit Shah, Hiloni Bhatija, Hanishi Shah. 

We are deeply indebted to everyone who has ever shown love and friendship to her, as well as the incredible team at The Mount Sinai Hospital, especially lung transplant physician Dr. Harish Seethamraju. We can never express what it meant to have this one-of-a kind woman in our lives for as long as we did. 

We will miss her for the rest of our days.