Dr. C.P Rao June 23, 1934 – September 9, 2018 Dr. Chatrathi Purushottama Rao, affectionately called C.P. by his friends and colleagues passed away on September 9, 2018 in the early hours of the morning. C.P was a resident of Fayetteville, Arkansas and was visiting his daughter in Pittsburgh. He is a beloved husband of Venkumamba Chatrathi for 63 years; loving father of Mohini Chatrathi Tummalapalli (Dr. Krishna Tummalapalli), of Fox Chapel and Dr. Sri Krishna Chatrathi (Dr. Anuradha) of Lee’s Summit, Mo and Dr. Sridhar Chatrathi (Dr. Prema) of Clarksville, MD.
He was a cherished grandfather to Lekha, Praveen, Avanthi, Arjuna, Harish, Meenakshi, and Samira. C.P was born in a small village of Chittapur, Andhra Pradesh; India to Seetaramaiiya and Annapurna Chatrathi a school teacher on June 23, 1934. He was the second born of five children.
His extraordinary life journey in pursuit of education began after completing 6th grade in his small village. He lived with various relatives in many cities in pursuit of his education. He received a Masters in Commerce from Andhra University, graduated at the top of his class and his extraordinarily high scoring record stood for many decades.
He came to America in 1963 through a prestigious Ford Foundation grant to pursue a degree in Marketing at Stanford University, and then received his PhD in Marketing from University of North Carolina. All the while he supported his wife and children in India for 5 years while he received his education. After 2 years at Indian Institute of Management, Professor Rao came to University of Arkansas in 1970.
Through hard work and sheer determination his career advanced rapidly. He soon became a tenured Professor, full Professor, University Professor and was recognized and awarded as an outstanding teacher and researcher. He later worked at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA and Kuwait University.
He was an outstanding researcher with hundreds of papers to his credit and has also written several scholarly books. His passion was to travel the world and meet many people of various cultures. He loved the diverse cultures and people of the world.
He lived and taught in Greece, Spain, and England; he later did sabbaticals in Nigeria, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. He taught courses in many parts of the world as an International Marketing Professor and led a large number of international and American students to complete their PhD’s. He was an avid tennis player and gardner.
Few years ago he retired to his beloved Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was a kind, generous, gentle, loving, adventurous and gregarious person, who will be missed dearly by his wife Venku, family and friends. In accordance with his family’s wishes, all services were private.
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