Shanta Ramchand remembered for celebrating her Indian culture

By Ed Koch, Special to the Sun

Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Southern Nevada socialite Shanta Ramchand loved hosting big soirees that had a warm and colorful touch of her native India.

“My mother would send invited guests traditional outfits to wear, serve customary Indian food and play music native to her birthplace,” said Mo Ramchand, her son. “She did what she could to preserve and promote the culture of her homeland.”

Mrs. Ramchand, who also was a skilled bridge and gin rummy player who competed in local tournaments, died Thursday. She was 71. She was diagnosed with cancer in October while on her annual visit to India and returned to Las Vegas for treatment, her family said.

Services will be private for the 42-year local resident. A date is yet to be determined for a celebration of life party, her family said.

Mrs. Ramchand was the widow of popular Las Vegas businessman Pessu Ramchand, longtime owner of The Shirt Shoppe, a high-fashioned custom clothing store formerly of both the Meadows and Fashion Show malls. He died in 1996.

Born March 26, 1944, in the Southern Indian city of Hyderabad, she moved north with her family to the metropolis of Pune, 74 miles southeast of India’s largest populated city Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. Shanta graduated from Wadia College in Pune and married Pessu in 1964.

The couple resided in Hong Kong and the Philippines before moving to Las Vegas in 1974. Mrs. Ramchand became a U.S. citizen more than 30 years ago.

In addition to Mo Ramchand of Henderson, she is survived by two daughters, Rani and her husband Pradeep Punhani of Corona, Calif., and Kusum and her husband Jim Lindstrom of Henderson; and two granddaughters, Soni and Sanja.

Ed Koch is a former longtime Las Vegas Sun reporter.