Venkatachalam Jagadesan

Venkatachalam "Jack" Jagadesan, 75, of Shillington, died October 6, 2009 in Reading Hospital.

He was the husband of Rajeswari (Venkatachalam) Jagadesan, to whom he was married on October 30, 1955.

Born in Udumalpet, Coimbatore Dist, Tamil Nadu, India he was a son of the late M. Venkatachalam and V. Annadhavalli.

Jack earned a B.S. degree in engineering from Annamalai University, India, where he played for the field hockey team. Later, he earned his MS degree in Engineering Science from Penn State University and his Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE).

He was employed as an engineer for 28 years by Metropolitan Edison Company, retiring in 1996. After retiring, he continued to work as a consultant in the power generation industry.

Jack's professional achievements included: building five hydro-electric power plants in Southern India, which was part of a joint Indian/Canadian venture; initiating and executing the restarting of an old power plant in Boston and subsequently adding capacity; and rebuilding the security system at Three Mile Island following the accident and restarting the facility. In addition, he received a national award for radio assembly as a young engineer in India.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons, Sethuraman, husband of Selvi, Cumru Township; Rajavel, husband of Kelly, Wyomissing and Dev, husband of Barbara, Baltimore. He is also survived by his uncle Hon. Justice S. Mohan, India.

He had six siblings: Jayaraj (deceased), Govindarajan, Shanmugasundaram, Thilakavathi Mohan (deceased), Subramanian and Thillainathan; and one nephew, Viswanathan and nieces. Nine grandchildren, Devi, Suhana, Ajay, Sumitra, Meera, Ananda, Keeran, Kamran and Surya also survive him.

Services will be Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc., 739 Penn Ave., West Reading, PA 19611. Friends may call Thursday from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to VRaj Temple, 15 Manor Rd., Schuylkill Haven, PA 17972-9067. Online condolences may be recorded at www.kuhnfuneralhome.com.