Om Patney

Devoted husband and father, award-winning engineer, and pioneering immigrant passed away at 87 years old after a brief illness in Glenview, Ill., on April 26, 2022.
Om was the epitome of immigrant success, having moved from India to the U.S. in 1960. Considered to be the first Indian to settle in Omaha, Neb., he was born Oct. 9, 1934, in Lahore, Pakistan (when it was still a part of India). Om immigrated in 1960 to the U.S., where he attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1963. He married his wife, Manju, in 1967, and they lived in Bellevue, Neb., where they raised three children. Om and Manju moved to Glenview in 2021. Om worked for three prominent engineering firms in Omaha before joining the Army Corps of Engineers. His decades-long career included involvement in such high-profile projects as designing two of the subway stations in the Washington, D.C., Metro system; land surveying for the expansion of Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and designing the Union Pacific railroad bridge over 84th Street in Omaha, for which he won an award. Om was also a self-taught cook who nightly created gourmet-quality dishes for his family, specializing in Indian and American cuisine. Additionally, he traveled extensively, visiting almost every U.S. state, along with numerous other nations. A news enthusiast with a taste for jazz, he loved people and enjoyed chatting with anyone, be it a neighbor, friend, or taxi driver. Moreover, he loved to spend time with his family, including his kids and grandkids.
Om is survived by his wife and three children, Dee (and his wife, Scarlet), Johnny, and Anji (and her husband, Chuck) and seven grandchildren.
The youngest of five, he is preceded in death by both parents and four siblings.
Service and cremation will take place at 11 a.m. on April 29 at Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home in Franklin Park, Ill.
A traditional Hindu ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on April 30 at the Hanuman Temple in Glenview.
Donations may be made in Om's memory to the Civil Engineering Alumni Excellence Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation at nufoundation.org/fund/01080410/ or the Hindu Temple of Omaha at hindutemplenebraska.org.