By Daniel Massey
Nearly 200 mourners packed the Leahy-McDonald Funeral Home on Atlantic Avenue last Thursday morning to celebrate the life of the Richmond Hill Sikh community’s spiritual leader, Giani Gurdeep Singh, who died Jan. 29 of complications from pneumonia. He was 78.
Singh was one of the most prominent Sikh religious figures in the New York metropolitan area — many called him the Sikh equivalent of the Catholic Church’s Edward Cardinal Egan — and had served as the head priest of the Sikh Cultural Society since emigrating from England in 1976.
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Singh was at the forefront of the Sikh community’s campaign to stamp out bias by educating the public.
But Singh was a force in Sikh affairs well before members of his community became targets of hate after the Twin Towers attack. He virtually single-handedly helped to build a solid religious base among Sikhs in New York over the last 25 years.
A year after arriving in Richmond Hill, Singh introduced baptisms, known as amrits, to the community.
“With the baptism ceremonies, a lot of Sikhs became orthodox Sikhs,” said Ardaman Singh Sahota, one of Singh’s four sons. “He made the community stronger in a religious way.”
Singh was born in what is now Pakistan and earned a bachelor’s degree in theology in India. He was a head priest in Kenya in the 1950s before being summoned back to India to head up the Sisganj Temple, the New Dehli house of worship where the Sikh’s ninth guru was beheaded by the Moguls for refusing to convert to Islam.
Singh spent seven years as a head priest of a temple in the South Hall section of London prior to coming to Queens.
“He wanted to spread the word of Sikhism to different parts of the world,” Sahota said.
Inderjit Singh, who ran for City Council in District 28, said the head priest helped make Richmond Hill “synonymous” with Sikhs.
“But he knew that we are not a proselytizing religion,” he said. “As much as he devoted his life to the propagation of his religion, he never tried to be aggressive.”
When Singh arrived in Richmond Hill in 1976, Sikhs had a far less visible presence in the neighborhood than they have today. The group’s numbers in the area have now grown to about 25,000.
Harpreet Singh Toor, a trustee of the Sikh Cultural Society, said Singh’s commitment to Sikhism was strong during his early days in Richmond Hill when Sikhs were just beginning to move to the area.
“He’d get up early in the morning and even if there was not a single soul in temple, he’d still do the kirtan [prayers],” he said.
Under Singh’s watch, the Sikh Cultural Society developed into the home base of the New York area’s Sikh community. “Until the 1980s it was the only society in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut,” Toor said. “He provided services to all those people.”
Singh continued to preach after suffering a debilitating stroke in 1992 that landed him in the hospital for eight months. Doctors told him he would never walk again, but Singh defied their predictions.
“He had a strong will and his faith gave him that strength,” Sahota said.
Singh spent a great deal of energy explaining to the wider public who Sikhs are and what they believe in. He was instrumental in getting Sikh studies courses added to the Columbia University curriculum.
Most recently, he worked to stem the backlash against Sikhs following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “He organized blood drives, candlelight vigils and promoted government legislation so that bias crimes against Sikhs will be treated on the federal level,” said Sahota.
Thursday’s funeral service, conducted in Punjabi, was led by the Sikh Cultural Society’s new head priest, Giani Hardev Singh, and included hymns sung by the organization’s ragis, or musicians. Mourners sitting cross-legged covered the parlor’s floor, spilling into the hallway.
Following the service, a processional led by the 102nd Precinct’s Community Affairs division and a hearse flying the Sikh flag, stopped for a brief prayer at the Sikh Cultural Society on 118th Street before continuing on to Fresh Pond Crematory, where in keeping with Sikh tradition Singh was cremated.
On Saturday, nearly 1,000 mourners attended a memorial service for Singh at the Sikh Cultural Society.
He is survived by his wife, four daughters, three sons, seven grandchildren and an entire community of Richmond Hill Sikhs that looked up to him as its spiritual father.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
