Former Mayor Satyendra Huja has died

The man who oversaw the creation of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall who later went on to serve two terms on the City Council has died.

Satyendra Huja died on February 14 at the age of 84, according to a post on one of his son’s personal Facebook page.

“There are no words to describe the impact you had on so many,” wrote Ajai Huja.

Huja was hired by former City Manager Cole Hendrix in 1973 to serve as the director of city planning and community development. He would later be promoted to director of strategic planning before retiring in 2004. After doing so, he created his own company called Community Planning Associates.

In 2007, Huja ran for City Council on a ticket with David Brown and Holly Edwards and received the most votes that year. He ran for re-election in 2011 and got eight more votes than fellow Democrat Kathy Galvin and Dede Smith. At the first meeting of 2012, his fellow Councilors selected to serve as a Mayor, a position he held for his entire second term.

Born in 1941, Huja became a U.S. citizen on July 4, 1987, at a ceremony at Monticello.

In the summer of 2011, a woman appeared before the City Council to ask for a translator to be hired because she could not understand Huja because of his accent. A symbolic confidence vote was taken on the spot as a sign of support.

Huja is a member of the Sikh religion and was the second person of that faith to be elected as a community’s mayor, according to a January 11, 2012 post on Sikh.net. Huja himself offered up a quote for C-Ville Weekly.

“I can’t think of a Sikh guy getting elected in many other communities,” Huja said. “There aren’t many Sikhs in Charlottesville… So I obviously didn’t get elected because of my religion. I got elected because I could be of service.”

On Saturday morning, City Councilor Lloyd Snook shared some remembrances of Huja’s time in government in a post on Facebook. He said the former city planning director’s relationship with former City Manager Cole Hendrix was a productive one.

“Huja’s creativity occasionally exasperated Cole Hendrix,” Snook wrote. “When I was on the Planning Commission, about once a year, I would get a call from Huja, saying that he had made Cole really mad, and that he was afraid that Cole was going to fire him, and would I please call my friends on Council to make sure that they would talk Cole out of firing him. In reality, I never had the sense that Huja was about to be fired, and I never had the sense that Cole was mad enough to do that; I always had the sense that Cole valued Huja’s creativity and commitment, and that Cole was secure enough not to see Huja’s disagreement as threatening to his own authority.”

Snook said the Charlottesville of today exists because of Huja’s work.

Former Charlottesville Fire Chief Julian Taliaferro worked with Huja both as a city employee and on City Council. Taliaferro was elected in 2006, served one term until the end of 2009, and remembers Huja as a caring person.

“I wanted to institute a free smoke detector program for city residents which the city would not fund,”Taliaferro said “I was sharing my frustrations with Huja and he said I think I can get a grant for that. He got a grant and the program got its start. Since then the city has funded this program which has contributed to the city’s low residential fire fatality rate.”

To read some more about his time on Council, here are some previous stories:

• Huja announces bid for City Council, Brian Wheeler, Charlottesville Tomorrow, April 12, 2007
• City Council welcomes Huja & Edwards, elects Norris Mayor, Brian Wheeler, Charlottesville Tomorrow, January 7, 2008
• Huja launches bid for second term on Charlottesville City Council, Sean Tubbs, Charlottesville Tomorrow, March 25, 2011
• Charlottesville mayor blasts West Main streetscape plan, Sean Tubbs, January 21, 2015

Listen to a campaign interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow from 2007:

Listen to a campaign interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow from 2011:

Before you go: This post and all of the others are intended to increase awareness about the role local government plays in American democracy, especially in and around Charlottesville. This was originally sent out in the February 17, 2025 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. If you would like to support the work, you can buy a paid subscription or support through Patreon.