Goodbye to Ganesh Nayak

Ganesh Nayak passed away suddenly on Wednesday morning. His loss will have a significant impact on our community and profession. We are very fortunate to have known Ganesh as a friend and colleague.

I’m very grateful to have visited with Ganesh a couple of weeks ago as we sat together at a breakfast event. He was one of the most kind people you could meet, quick to share his sense of humor.

Ganesh was a leader in sustainability, resiliency and accessibility. He enjoyed helping our community find effective means of conservation, lasting shelter from devastating weather events and improved access for people with mobility challenges so they can enjoy more of the world around us.

Ganesh served as the Secretary of our state professional association for architects (AIA Georgia) and as a Board member. He was the President of our national association’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) and was active in our local chapter COTE activities.

As a leader in the industry, Ganesh was invited to speak at conferences. He was a frequent speaker for AIA’s leadership development program and chaired the committee for continuing education at our regional conference each fall.

In the image above, Ganesh, Carmen Evans and I presented a session at the 2023 Georgia Climate Conference in Athens, GA. It was wonderful to hear Ganesh explain the importance of the issues about which he spoke AND the actions we can take to achieve desired results. He was thoughtful and practical.

We’ll miss his smile and sense of humor. We’ll miss his on-going contributions to our community. We’ll miss being able to call on Ganesh to help tackle challenging issues.

Ganesh gave generously of his time and expertise to our profession. He was a mentor who made many of us better people.

We extend our condolences to his family and wish them well.

- Ryan