Prashant Reddy, long-time member and friend of the Richmond Astronomical Society passed away at his home in Powhatan. Prashant served several terms on our Board of Directors and could often be seen at Science Museum skywatches and other club events with the club’s solar scope or chatting with visitors. He coordinated several of our Astronomy Days at the Science Museum, planned several fall picnics for us at the scout camp in Goochland and at Belmead in Powhatan and helped staff our booth at RavenCon. He was generous in sharing his time and sharing his dark sky backyard in Powhatan with fellow observers by offering us an open invitation to stargaze from his driveway and providing a steady flow of hot chocolate along with a place to warm up on cold nights.
For the telescope aficionados among us, Prashant liked aperture in his telescopes whether it was a Schmidt-Cassegrain or a Dobsonian. When he deployed his Dob at a star party it could easily be one of the largest telescopes on the field. He particularly enjoyed observing with fellow astronomers Randy Tatum and John Raymond. It was undoubtedly their encyclopedic knowledge of the sky that he appreciated. He told me so on more than one occasion.
A memorial service was held on Wednesday, August 12 at the E. Alvin Small Funeral Home, 2033 Boulevard, Colonial Heights, VA. A second service was held on Friday, August 14 at the Hindu Temple, 6051 Springfield Rd., Glen Allen, VA. RAS was represented at both services and offered remembrances of Prashant along with his friends and family.
