India-born man with rags-to-riches story enters Michigan House

When India-born-and-bred entrepreneur Shri Thanedar’s first wife killed herself in America in 1996, their two children — Neil and Samir — were just four and eight years of age.


Thanedar had risen from a life of poverty in Belgaum and struggle in Mumbai to become the owner of a pharmaceutical firm in

Michigan

and had been living the

American Dream

, but at that moment, he felt the world collapse around him. He survived the crisis and made his business successful and worth $200 million. Then came the 2008 economic slump: his company crashed and he even lost the dream home he built. He had to start all over again.

Now, at 65, he’s made his third comeback. On Wednesday, the Maharashtrian who is proud of his roots was elected to the 110-member

House of Representatives

in Michigan with 93% votes. A Democrat, he will now represent District 3 in Detroit which, with a population of 1.5 lakh, represents some of that city’s most affluent parts and some of its poorest — a mixture of wealth and impoverishment that he is familiar with.

One of six siblings, Thanedar had a tough childhood in Belgaum: his father retired from a

government job

at 55, and he had to do odd jobs at age 14. Soon he moved to Mumbai where, after completing college education, he joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre as a scientist. He left for the US when he was 24, got a doctorate in polymer chemistry and became a US citizen in 1988.

Grateful for the benefits of government-sponsored school and university education that he received in India, Thanedar wants to focus on education in his constituency. “I also want children to get early-childhood education free, the way I got it in India,” he says.