The founder of Bartlesville-based Service Technology Corporation, Service Manufacturing Corporation and USAco has died.

Karappurath Vasudevan, affectionately known as “Vasu,” passed away Friday, Sept. 6 after a prolonged illness. He was 86.

Vasu immigrated to the United States in 1970 with his wife, Lalitha, and two young children, only having two suitcases and no guarantee of a job.

In 1986, he started STC as a consulting engineering firm that took over the former Lincoln Elementary School building in west Bartlesville. Following success there, Vasu formed SMC in 1992 and in 2021, he established USAco, with a focus on manufacturing “Made in the U.S.A.” consumer products.

Vasu loved his adopted country and city greatly. He established the Bartlesville Lincoln Elementary School Scholarship, also known as the B.L.E.S.S Fund to provide scholarships to students who might not be able to afford higher education.

Vasu and his companies donated time, effort and skills to restoring the Nellie Johnstone Oil Derrick, rehabilitating the Sooner Park Play Tower, relocating the No. 940 locomotive to outside of the Chamber Depot and rehabilitating the A4 Skyhawk display outside of Washington Park Mall.

He collaborated with the Sutton Avian Research Center and invented a portable incubator for Bald Eagles and also served two terms as a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City- Oklahoma City Branch.

There is no memorial service planned at this time for Vasu, but his philanthropy, company and the works he has completed across Bartlesville have created lasting memories for decades to come.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO OF THE VASUDEVAN FAMILY, WHEN THEY WERE INDUCTED INTO THE BARTLESVILLE LEGACY HALL OF FAME IN 2014.