Madan G. Goyal

Madan Gopal Goyal, a beloved husband, father, grandfather and dedicated community volunteer, passed away on June 14, 2025 at the age of 82 in Plano, Texas, after suffering a devastating stroke and fall only a few days prior.

Madan will be remembered as an exuberant man-"The King of Charisma," as some would say. He was not only up for anything but he was often the mastermind behind whatever that "anything" was.

He too was the ultimate dichotomy: an equal lover of fine wine and a free pamphlet. A proud American, yet fiercely Indian. First on the dance floor, yet a man of few words.

Madan Goyal was born on November 11, 1942, in Adhiana, Punjab, India to Pohla Ram & Durgi Devi, the eldest of five children. He had a happy, modest childhood spent mostly with extended family.

With great ambition (and some nerves), he left India for America at the young age of 19 to study at Utah State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1964.

From there, he moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, to begin working, ultimately settling in Rochester, New York, for a job with General Dynamics. While in Rochester, he traveled back to India, where he had an arranged marriage to Sneh Lata Gupta in August 1969. He and Sneh would soon have celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.

After a few professional stints and periods of unemployment, he ultimately was offered a role at Xerox. In 1971, his first child was born on the first day he was to report to Xerox for his new job so he dropped Sneh off at the hospital and went to work. Irma, his first born, arrived that morning and her proud father met her only when he got off of work that evening.

Xerox opened a new office in Dallas, Texas, and transferred Madan and his young family (which now included two-month-old son Mohit) there in September 1973. From that point forward, Madan became a proud Texan, making it his home for the next 52 years until his passing.

In Dallas, while carrying a full-time job at Xerox, Madan looked around and realized there was not a single Indian restaurant-not just in the city of Dallas, but in the entire state of Texas. Proudly Indian, he saw an opportunity. He secured a location on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas and, in May 1975, just two months after his third child, Maneesh, was born, he opened Texas' first Indian restaurant: India House.

Madan was extremely proud of India House. It became a meeting place for the small yet growing Indian community in Dallas, but also a place to introduce Texans to his beloved India and its cuisine. It wasn't always easy. In order to get people in the door, he once started offering pizza too. Once he found an audience, he stuck to his Indian roots.

He ran India House for over nine years until he lost the lease on the space. The dismantling of the restaurant was an incredibly hard time for Madan.

He ultimately tried his hand at another restaurant but soon left the industry. Having moved his family to Plano for the strong public schools, he opened Vintage Beer & Wine, a local store in the heart of still-young Plano, which he owned and operated for many years (and closed, rather smartly, right before his kids might take an interest in the products their dad sold.)

In the late '80s, with his unrelenting entrepreneurial spirit, he started yet another business: Immigration Documents Incorporated, where he helped immigration seekers compile and process the many requisite documents. This business ultimately led to the creation of the company he then ran for over 40 years: Passport & Visa Express, an expediting service. Not one to ever fully retire, Madan was still processing passports for clients until his very last days. He was exceptionally proud that his son, Mohit, was taking over this business.

Along the way, he made many investments. He was constantly looking and strategizing-some would say scheming-to find the best angle for acquiring property or valuable art and antiquities.

Madan was also a fiercely dedicated family man and community volunteer. With a consistently outstretched hand, he was instrumental in helping several members of his and Sneh's family settle in the USA, while regularly visiting and supporting family who remained in India.

Since he arrived in Dallas, he has given his time to various community organizations and served in many leadership roles, oftentimes motivating others to join him along the way.
His commitments and Board affiliations are too many to list but include the ACLU (both Texas State & National Board) and Planned Parenthood of North Texas. He was a member of the Board and Chairman of the DFW International Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy, where, many years ago, he persuaded the Chaplaincy to add Interfaith in the name and recruited minority faith leaders to serve on the Chaplaincy Board.

He also served on the Boards of the Dallas United Nations Association, Dallas Peace Center, Dallas Urban League, India Association of North Texas, DFW Hindu Temple, Jaycees-Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square.

In Plano, he served on the Plano Schools Multicultural Committee and the Boards of the Information and Referral Center of Plano (now the Assistance Center of Collin County), ArtCentre Plano and was active in the Plano Chamber of Commerce, including being a graduate of its signature program, Leadership Plano. He also served on the Plano Library Board of Trustees during the construction and opening of the Haggard Library; his name is proudly displayed on the library's dedication plaque to this day.

Given his commitments, it's no surprise that he received numerous awards. One that made him particularly proud was being named a Stan Golden Man of Action which recognizes men in DFW who have distinguished themselves in the pursuit of positive social change both as role models and trail blazers.

Madan was consistently thinking and quietly considerate. He wasn't one to sit still. On his daily morning walks (he walked two miles the morning of the day he had his stroke and fall), he would look for his neighbors' delivered newspapers and toss each one from the front lawn to the front porch, creating daily smiles from his delighted neighbors. When COVID struck, he felt bad for the high schoolers in his local Plano neighborhood that would be without a graduation and organized a car parade through the neighborhood just for them. Never one to seek recognition, The Dallas Morning News ran a story about the "graduation parade" and the mastermind behind it.

His family hopes that he will be remembered as they remember him: the first (and often last) person on the dance floor, a lover & collector of art-especially Indian antiquities- a proud supporter of equal rights & underdogs and devoted family man and who always showed up.

Madan is survived by his wife, Sneh, his daughter Irma Shrivastava (Atlanta) and sons Mohit Goyal (Austin) & Maneesh Goyal (New York) and their spouses Manish Shrivastava, Aparna Katragadda & Andrew Wingrove-all 6 of whom he was enormously proud. Amongst all roles he played, he was most overjoyed by the role of Grandfather, or Nana/Dada. Rani Shrivastava (20), Liah Goyal (19), Rohan Shrivastava (18), Myan Goyal (16), Adrian Goyal (4) & Gracie Goyal (18 mos) were the people he most wanted to be around, always.

His marriage to Sneh was the story of two strangers coming together and, over more than 55 years, building a life where family was always at the core. Sneh doted on Madan and did anything possible to take care of him; in turn, Madan certainly knew of the rare gem he found in Sneh and showed affection in his own quiet ways.

He will be missed terribly by family, friends, colleagues, collaborators, co-conspirators from around the world.

In lieu of flowers, given Madan's deep interest in both supporting and promoting charitable causes, the family requests donations be made to a meaningful charity of your own choosing.