Dhema Mahajan

Dhema T. Mahajan passed away peacefully on April 4, 2025 at his home in San Jose at the age of 81.  He was born in Nhavi, a small village in Maharashtra that was always near and dear to his heart.

He received dual B.S. degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) in Mumbai, India, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

For over 35 years, Dhema held various technical management roles at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories  in Holmdel, NJ.  In the second half of his career, Dhema requested to move to the Bay Area where his son Amol was attending college.  In the spirit of continuous learning later in his career, Dhema took night classes in frame relay networks so he could serve as a contractor for Cisco Systems to build network switches for AT&T.

Born to Annapurna and Tukaram Mahajan, Dhema was the youngest of six children.  Despite losing his father in a tragic accident when he was a toddler, Dhema had a very happy childhood and was adored by his elder siblings.  His close friends affectionately called him “Dhemaba” as he was an old soul even at an early age.  Dhema had a fond admiration of his brother, J.T. Mahajan, who was a local high school teacher and would later become Home Minister of Maharashtra.

After finishing college and working in Mumbai, he was introduced to and married Shashikala, who lived in nearby Bhusawal.  His brother hoped to mold Dhema into a future politician and follow in his footsteps, yet Dhema was eager to pursue his own dreams and moved to Brooklyn to start graduate school with Shashi joining him soon afterwards.

Shashi was the yin to Dhema’s yang.  Dhema was introverted, book smart and beyond patient and Shashi perfectly complemented him with her talkative, streetsmart and decisive personality. Together they raised three children Amol, Deepa, and Meghan – Dhema especially enjoyed coaching his kids from soccer to robotics and sharing his passion for the arts with his family, particularly naataks and classical music concerts. With Shashi passing away two weeks prior, Dhema’s soul will be reunited with his loving partner of over 56 years.

Dhema was a dedicated father and husband -he was gentle, kind, loving, funny and wise.   He had an innate ability to connect with people spiritually and put them at ease with his calm and unassuming demeanor.  After retiring, Dhema picked up a new passion in learning Sanskrit and later became a teacher.  He loved staying abreast of new technologies (and sharing his AI skills with his kids) and held various volunteer roles for The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).  Above all, Dhema enjoyed being a doting Abba to his five grandchildren who in return adored him.

Dhema is survived by his children Amol, Deepa, Meghan, daughter-in-law (Siresha Chaluvadi), son-in-law (Zachary Abrahamson) and five grandchildren (Nikhil, Elina, Kaira, Ishaan and Roshan).