Anwar Feroz Siddiqi, a member of the Advisory Board of The Universal News Network (ww.theunn.com) passed away peacefully the morning of Saturday, September 21st at his home in Hillsborough, New Jersey after battling Cholangiocarcinoma. He was 69 years old.
Born in Rajasthan, India, Anwar led a remarkable life, immigrating with his family to Canada in 1980 and working his way from newspaper deliveries to eventually establishing himself as a business leader in the pharmaceutical industry. He spent the bulk of his career at Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey, where one of the highlights of his career was establishing and serving as Executive Director of a group aimed at serving long term care and eldercare patients. He held several key appointments throughout his career, including serving as a Delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 2005. He also touched the lives and careers of hundreds of people who he led during that time. He eventually used this experience to launch his own consulting firm, Paradigm LTC, which was his “retirement”.
He spent a decade as a Strategic Advisor for the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), where he established connections between the Indian healthcare community and doctors of Indian origin in America through an annual conference in India. During this time, he drove initiatives to eradicate diabetes and build awareness of traumatic brain injury among others. He was also President of the Association of Indians in America – South Jersey and led an annual initiative to build awareness of Gandhi’s teachings of non-violence, where thousands of students shared what it meant to them through essays and art-work. He also had served on several non-profit boards over the years, including the Visiting Nurses Association of Mercer County, NJ and Association for Advancement of Mental Health in Princeton.
His pride and joy and how he most loved to spend his time was with his family. He took care of his parents, wife and raised two wonderful children. He was a nature lover and enjoyed annual camping trips in Canada. He loved traveling with family and visited everywhere from the Caribbean to Morocco and France over the years. He was a party planner extraordinaire and shared his passion of Indian food with friends and family through an annual backyard bash. More recently he completely doted on his grandchildren who affectionately call him, “Dada” and “Nana”.
He is survived by his father, Ainul Haq Siddiqi, beloved wife Rana Siddiqi, children Aamir (Karen) Siddiqi, Arshi (Matthew) Duffley, three adoring grandchildren (Alina & Elijah Siddiqi and Zachary Duffley). He’s also survived by his brothers Zia (Parveen) Siddiqi, Parvez (Zehra) Siddiqi, and his sister Shahina (Mashood) Siddiqi.
The funeral was held on Sunday, September 22nd, and the family will host a celebration of life at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to: Cycle for Survival, which invests in research toward rare cancers or Islamic Society of Central Jersey
