VALPARAISO, INDIANA -- Vinay Das came to Valparaiso from India in the late 1960s to study engineering at Valparaiso University. He liked the community so much he ended up spending the rest of his life here.

Das, 53, died Wednesday of complications from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). His wife, Suman Hansal, called him "the most wonderful person on Earth, the best father and the greatest husband."

Das graduated in 1972 with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked for several companies before joining BP-Amoco in the early 1980s. Hansal said he used his mechanical engineering talents to build his own home in Valparaiso.

"He loved it here and stayed," Hansal said. "The community is so wonderful. Everybody knows everybody, and they are so helpful. We had all good experiences here."

The son of Jai Kishan and Kiran Devi of Delhi, India, Das married Hansal 19 years ago. Hansal said it was an arranged marriage, as is traditional in India.

"An Indian marriage is a marriage of the family," she said. "Our fathers met and liked each other, and then we met and liked each other. It was not forced on us. Our fathers knew what kind of people we were and thought it would work out. We did not date before the marriage, but it worked out beautifully."

The couple have one son and an adopted daughter. Hansal said her husband was a member of the Valparaiso Jaycees before their marriage. He has been active in the Indian community in Northwest Indiana and served on the boards of the Valparaiso YMCA and the Valparaiso University Credit Union.

Hansal said Das didn't have a hobby other than helping people.

"He would help anybody who needed it. That was his hobby. If he had the time, he would help. Even if he didn't have time, he would try to create it," she said.

For the past five years, the couple also owned Dairy Queen restaurants in Valparaiso and Merrillville. Hansal said Das was transferred by BP-Amoco to Salt Lake City in 1998, but she remained in Valparaiso because they did not want to remove their son from high school.

Das returned to Valparaiso in March 2001 and retired from BP-Amoco in March because of his health, which had diminished his ability to work.

"He was a very busy guy," Hansal said. "He always did things. He had a dream to be a developer one day and start constructing homes. He bought some land and said he was going to develop the land and be a builder. I guess God didn't want it that way."

Visitation is from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Moeller Funeral Home in Valparaiso with the funeral service to begin at 5:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Vinay Das Scholarship Fund at First National Bank, Valparaiso.