Photo courtesy of Udit Nagar
Khandoo Nagar, the owner of the Lakewood’s Ace Hardware, died Monday in the hospital from an aortic aneurysm. He was 81.
The local business owner ran the Gaston Avenue hardware shop for 34 years in various locations throughout the neighborhood. He and his wife Urmila, who runs the bookkeeping, still worked in the store most days. They worked together for 40 years, and were married for 52.
Nagar felt some discomfort and went into the hospital Saturday morning, but as the doctors ran tests to find out what was wrong, his condition worsened and on Monday he died.
“He was a force of nature,” said Nagar’s son Udit, who worked in the store as a teenager and now lives in Atlanta. “He couldn’t sit still, even on his days off.”
The Advocate wrote about the humble couple and their business celebrating 20 years of business in 2003. The store has moved, expanded, and persisted through the era of the big box stores. “He loved hardware, but more importantly, he loved his customers. For him, it was all about customer service,” said Udit. “His work was what motivated him to get up in the morning. His mission in life was to run that store.”
Nagar embraced the mom-and-pop store mentality and told the Advocate in 2003, “My motto in life is always to help people, and not to use people who come to you for help and offer them really expensive stuff that they don’t need, just so you can make money. You have to help them solve the problem without them spending a lot of money.”
Nagar was one of 10 siblings born in South Africa. Trained as a mechanical engineer, he worked for 10 years at Victoria Falls Hydroelectric Power Station on the Zambesi River in Zambia. He came to the states in 1973, fleeing oppression from the apartheid regime in South Africa. In addition to running the hardware store, he was passionate about pottery, fine wine and tending his garden.
Inside the shop, there is a picture of Nagar and a verse from Sylvan Kramers and Rabbi Jack Riemer, “As long as we live, he too will live; for he is now a part of us; as we remember him.”
Services for Nagar will be on Sunday, Aug. 6 at 11 a.m. at Restland Funeral Home, 13005 Greenville Ave. In lieu of flowers, the family would like donations to be made to the Creative Arts Center of Dallas. He is survived by his wife, Urmila Nagar; his son, Udit Nagar; daughter-in-law, Ushma Upadhyay; and his two grandchildren, Dillon and Maya.
