In Memoriam: Ricky Ramdhaney, Student and Enrolment Services

The University of Calgary community mourns the sudden loss of our dear friend and colleague, Ricky Ramdhaney, manager of international student services, who passed away on Thursday, March 18, 2021 at the age of 42.

Ricky was born in Trinidad, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. He moved to Canada in 1995 to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at McGill University. After graduating with distinction in 2000, he went on to pursue a master’s degree in international education at New York University. He then began his career in supporting international students in Canadian post-secondary institutions, first at the University of Windsor and then at Simon Fraser University in B.C. He eventually settled in Calgary in 2009, growing his student services expertise and gaining certification to provide immigration advice as a regulated international student immigration adviser.

In our university community, Ricky was universally liked and respected as a collaborative, kind and extremely dedicated leader. He genuinely cared for the well-being of his team, and his unwavering devotion to serving international students made a difference in the lives of countless students over the past 12 years at UCalgary. He was well-known for his lightning-fast email response times, which given the volume he dealt with was admirable and much appreciated by students and colleagues alike.

Ricky was a mentor, adviser and counsellor in both his professional and personal life, loved and respected by the many friends, family members, colleagues, and students he so generously helped. His passion was service, and his life was devoted to this passion. This was evident by his selfless volunteering roles with crisis lines, soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

Ricky loved to travel and learn from other people’s cultures and traditions. One of the things he enjoyed most was music, especially that from his home country, and shared his love of calypso, reggae, Indian music, and music from steelpan with friends and coworkers. No celebration of Ricky’s life would be complete without music, so follow this link to a playlist of some of his favourite songs, made by our very own DJ Ricky “Canatrin” Ramdhaney.

Ricky will be so greatly missed by his family — his parents Kenneth and Shanti, sister Susan, niece Liana, nephew Jaden, and brother-in-law Gary — as well as his UCalgary family, all those who valued him so much throughout our university community.

The University of Calgary held a special live-streamed Celebration of Life to honour Ricky on March 26. The event recording and program are available online.  

To honour Ricky’s memory and legacy at the university, funds will be raised to establish an award in his name for international students who have demonstrated leadership in service in their communities. Those who would like to make a contribution can do so here.

Ricky's obituary, as well as a place to leave condolences, memories and photos, can be found here. In living memory of Ricky, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary.