Anil Kumar of Southampton and New York City Dies September 30

Anil Kumar of Southampton and New York City died on September 30 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. The cause was postoperative complications. He was 82.

Born in Bangalore, India, Kumar studied at St. Stevens College at Delhi University before moving to London at age 19 to complete his certification as a chartered accountant. He started his career in the corporate world with ITT, taking overseas posts in Iran and Zambia. Disillusioned with the corporate world, he returned to London, where he found mission-driven work as finance director of Planned Parenthood International (1973-85), a position that took him to all regions of the world.

In 1985, he moved to New York to become finance director of AVSC (EngenderHealth), an international reproductive health and human rights agency. Apart from a brief return to London, he spent the rest of his career in New York working for international non-profit organizations in the population, development and human rights sector.

Kumar was a member of several professional accountant associations. He was also a proud member of the Marylebone Cricket Club in London, Molly’s Group in New York City and the international Zugsmith Literary Society.

Throughout his life, Kumar stood up against gender, social and economic injustice. He credited his mother’s experience as a woman with low social status and limited opportunity in India for making him a feminist. As a teenager, he rebelled against the Indian caste system by dropping his surname, forfeiting privileged social status. At IPPF he fought for and won expanded maternal leave benefits for their staff. He also tried, unsuccessfully, to reduce the gap between the salaries of the highest and lowest paid workers. He retained his Indian citizenship throughout his life, saying he would only surrender his national passport for a global one that increased equity and international unity.

Kumar had a life-long passion for, and encyclopedic knowledge of, cricket. He often said it was the closest thing he had to a religion. As kids, he and his brother played on their lawn in Bangalore. He continued to play at university, and later established a league with weekly matches in London. He was tapped twice to umpire fund-raising matches on the East End. He followed India’s team daily on TV until his last days.

He was an avid reader from childhood. He particularly loved science fiction and crime/detective novels. Music was another important part of his life. His taste ran toward traditional jazz and Indian music.

He honed his social skills as a young man in English pub culture, liking nothing better than convivial conversation with a drink in his hand. He loved English beer, and over time became a connoisseur of fine whiskey and wine. High-spirited, quick-witted and warm-hearted, his friends remember him as a charming raconteur with a zest for life and a ready laugh. He relished a spirited political debate. “Pick a subject, take a side.” Good intellectual argument was one of his favorite forms of mental exercise.

Another was puzzles. He started doing crosswords while attending university. It became a lifelong addiction. He did the New York Times crossword and Guardian cryptic puzzle regularly, in ink. Twice, once with the Guardian and once with The Southampton Press, he deduced the solutions even though the published puzzle grid didn’t match the clues, a feat that got a write-up in The Southampton Press. He was also a whiz at Wordle and Sudoku, making short work of them over morning coffee.

In his later years, Kumar became an accomplished and ambitious cook specializing in Indian cuisine. After his retirement, this became a major outlet for his creativity. He loved having guests around the table.

Well-traveled with a cosmopolitan mind-set, he loved city life. He and his wife lived in Greenwich Village and then SoHo, enjoying a weekend house in Southampton they shared with her siblings. In 1997, they bought Ivy Cottage in Southampton Village, just for them. During the pandemic, they shifted their primary residence from the city to Long Island.

He is survived by Jan, his wife of 26 years; nieces Neena, Kiran and Leigh; nephews Sunil, James, and David; sister-in-law Barota; and brothers-in-law Robert and Richard. He was predeceased by his brother, Saroj; and his sister-in-law, Susan. A previous marriage ended in divorce. His beloved dog, Sita, is bereft.

Donations may be made in his memory to the Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance (villageems.org).