Founder-trustee and Vice-Chairman of Sankar Foundation Atmakuri Sankar Rao died here on Sunday.
He was 82 and is survived by wife Yashoda Devi, two sons and a daughter.
Mr. Sankar Rao had been ill for sometime and undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital for the past fortnight. He breathed his last in the morning.
Beginning his life as a salesman in 1947, his first big step was setting up Vizag Timber Yard after which he branched out into financing heavy vehicles. He undertook construction of the dry dock for the Navy and stock yard for the outer harbour of the Visakhapatnam Port and major works in the port, MES and DGNP and was the recipient of Best Contractor from the Ministry of Defence in 1983. He also executed work in the Steel Plant and NALCO, Damanjodi.
Mr. Sankar Rao established Sankar Foundation for service to society with the blessings of Sadguru K. Sivananda Murthy. Having built Grand Bay hotel in 1994, he sold it away and donated 85 per cent of his lifetime earnings- about Rs.2.67 crore- to Sankar Foundation.
He established the Sankar Foundation Eye Hospital at Simhachalam in 1997 and a maternity hospital in 1998.
The hospital was among the 2,000 eye hospitals in six countries selected for a visit by former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major.
The state-of-the-art modern eye hospital with one lakh sft opened in 2008.
Sankar Rao had received several awards for his selfless service. Among them were: Most Outstanding Service award from Rotary Club, Waltair, Master MN Award from World Teacher Trust, Madras Telugu Academy's Ugadi Puraskaram, Rotary International Special Recognition Award for being a major donor to Rotary Foundation in 2000-2001, Rotary Foundation award, Lions Club International award and Best Surgical NGO award to Sankar Foundation from the District Collector, Srikakulam.
