Rita Ravikrishnan was quiet in her words and loud in her impact. Throughout her life she valued learning new perspectives through cooking, traveling, books, movies, and art. Rita’s bright smile and quick wit will be missed by those who knew and loved her. She did so much without drawing attention to her knowledge, which made her a stealthy teammate in Trivial Pursuit or opponent in Boggle and Scrabble.

Rita was born on August 19, 1953 in Delhi, India, and traveled with her family to Kannur, India upon her father’s retirement. She married Dr. K.P. Ravikrishnan on December 26, 1973 and immigrated to the United States in 1974. They had their daughter Sandhya in 1979 and built a community of friends in Plymouth, Michigan and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. 

Rita was invested in her local community through volunteering, including work at Mai Family Services, the Bloomfield Township Meals on Wheels Program, and the Michigan Indian American Democratic Caucus. As much as Rita valued community level work, she also spent time encouraging state and national level changes through civic engagement and voter education.

Rita was mother to Sandhya Krishnan (Nathan Miles), and grandmother to Sanjay, who consistently made her smile. She was the daughter of the late M.P. Ramakrishnan and the late K.M. Savitri. She was the sister of Shobha Hemachandran, Salila Ramachandran, Nandkumar, Rekha Balakrishnan and the late Sahina Ravindran.

As you remember Rita, take time to reflect on how you can make change in your own local community, and commit to that work.