Friends and family of Michigan-based Indian American physician Dr. Ramesh Kumar, who was found dead last month in an apparent suicide, have set up a foundation in his name to help make medical treatment more affordable for people in financial need.
The Dr. Ramesh Kumar Foundation was created in honor of the urology resident at Henry Ford Hospital to continue his generosity, according to a Detroit News report. Kumar was known for his largesse, once paying for the surgery of a woman he didn’t know, friends said, according to the report.
The Indian American doctor was the son of Narendra Kumar, former president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, and Meenakshi ‘Minni’ Kumar. He also leaves behind his sister, Sarada Das. Dr. Ramesh Kumar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Detroit late evening on May 4. Kumar, 32, who worked in the Urology Department of the Henry Ford Hospital, was found dead on the passenger seat of a car in a rest area, some 90 miles from Detroit, Michigan.
Police are investigating the case to ascertain the cause of his death. The family members of Kumar say they do not suspect anyone and have ruled out the possibility of it being an incident of hate crime. “We do not know (the reason for his murder). They (The police) are yet to find out,” his father
Kumar was born in Cleveland and raised in Saginaw. He graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Boston University before receiving his medical degree from Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, India.
A YouCaring crowdfunding page has been set up to raise funds for the foundation. At the time of press, the crowdfunding effort had reached $34,517 of its $100,000 goal. “Our family has been overwhelmed by the love and support and kind words we have received over the last several days,” Kumar’s sister Sarada Das, who serves as the foundation president and a board member, wrote in a post on the crowdfunding page.
“Ramesh is not gone,” Mason Kashat, one of Kumar’s friends and vice president and board member of the foundation, said in the Detroit News report. “His legacy is not dead. This is not how it ends. We’re going to continue the giving and helping of others, just like he did.” More information about the foundation can be found at www.drrameshkumarfoundation.org.