Stephen Mathai, 98, Worked With United Nations As A Food Adviser

The following obituary was published on the Vander Plaat-Vermeulen Memorial Home website

Stephen Mathai, 98, died Sunday at his home in Franklin Lakes.

Born in India, Mathai moved to the United States in 1984 to live with his daughter Prema Mathai-Davis and her husband Wallace in Manhattan, New York, and then moved with them to Maryland, and then to Franklin Lakes in 2007.

Mathai had an extensive career both in India and in other parts of the world. While in India, Stephen was president and CEO of the Christian Agency for Social Action (CASA), building it into the largest non-governmental socio-economic development and relief organization in India.

He oversaw agricultural, irrigation and other development projects all over the country, as well as the relocation and rehabilitation of the refugees from Tibet in the 1960s and those from East Pakistan when it became Bangladesh. In this capacity, he worked extensively with international relief agencies, including Church World Service, Lutheran World Federation, CARE, OXFAM, and Catholic Relief Services. Mathai was also the president of the All India Christian Council and worked closely with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on national issues of socio-economic development.

Due to the innovations introduced by Mathai in the area of agricultural and development projects, the United Nations World Food Program appointed him the regional adviser for the Pacific Region. During this time he lived in Western Samoa, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Mathai was also an active member of Rotary International since the 1950s. He was involved in the International Rotary community in all the countries he lived in, including the Oakland Rotary Club of New Jersey.

He was the beloved husband of the late Susy Mathai, who died in 2008. Devoted father of Prema Mathai-Davis and her husband Wallace of Franklin Lakes, and Anish Mathai and his wife Susan of India. Loving grandfather of Stephen Mathai-Davis, and his wife Maria, Lisa and Tara Mathai-Davis, and Amreeta Mathai. Stephen was one of 11 brother and sisters, and is survived by his beloved sisters Esther Kurien and Anna Abraham.

The family will receive friends at the Vander Plaat-Vermeulen Memorial Home (530 High Mountain Road, Franklin Lakes NJ) on Wednesday 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.; service will be at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church (1 Church Lane, Oakland NJ) on Thursday 3 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Mathai’s memory to the Memorial Tree Program of the New Jersey Tree Foundation (njtreefoundation.org), the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (ftpf.org), or any other tree program of your choice.