Obituary of Nihar Oza

January 23, 2024

Nihar Oza, of Manhattan, passed away unexpectedly of natural causes at the age of 58 in the early afternoon on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024. Born in Bombay, India to Gautam and Harshada Oza, Nihar was a brilliant and gifted child with a hunger for reading, poetry, prose, and music. His love of literature may have fueled his sense of purpose but it was his character, compassion, and humor that made him the man his family and friends loved.

After his upbringing in upper class India, Nihar shied away from those principles and ideologies upon his family’s move to America at the age of 16, wherein he thoroughly adopted a more relaxed and minimalistic lifestyle. His manners and open-mindedness were unmatched, befriending anyone from homeless people to well-known artists and businessmen. His appreciation and deep understanding of artistic craft and greater universal existence gave him a uniquely rare lens through which to view the world. Few could comprehend his genius, and fewer could see life as he did. More than just intellectually gifted, Nihar was also an exceptional horseback rider in his youth.

Majoring in Physics at the University of Texas at Austin, he went on to write three novels, hundreds of poems, serve as Producer on Jimmy Cobb’s album Only For the Pure of Heart, open Daydream Cafe in Hell’s Kitchen, and read vastly complex novels every day of his life. He also occasionally performed at poetry readings in the Village. He lived and breathed his craft so it was only fitting that he had his works within arm’s reach when he passed.

The family hopes he is at peace in a place where he may be surrounded by his favorite books and authors (James Joyce), newspaper boats, vintage cars, bass guitars, and jazz music.

Nihar is survived by his parents, his loving sister Nandita, his brother-in-law, Maurizio Michi, and his only niece, Sophie.

May he rest in knowledge, among the pages of the books he laid his soul between.

Invite-Only services will be held from 12-1pm on January 28th at Greenwich Village Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his name may be made to the MoMa or the New York Public Library.