PTI  
 

New York, Jul 2 : Harvinder S Anand, chief executive of an MNC, will create history when he will be sworn in early tomorrow (IST) as the first Indian American mayor of an upscale village in New York state, three per cent of whose 1,930 residents are of Indian origin.
"I am honoured and humbled," said Anand, who came to the United States 25 years ago and had been the resident of Laurel Hollow village, south-east of New York, for the past 10 years.

Anand, 46, has been president of the gated community's homeowners association and village trustee during which he won admiration of residents and outgoing mayor Denise DeVita asked him to run for the post.

Anand graduated as a Chemical Engineer from Panjab University and is the chief executive of Royce International, a multi-national corporation involved in manufacture of industrial chemicals for textile, aerospace, electrical, automotive, marine and construction industries.

He said he only wants to serve his community and has no plans to seek higher offices. The residents praise the professionalism with which he tried to resolve issues.

Anand, married to a practising internist Chandni Anand, has a son and a daughter.

Village of Laurel Hollow is a water front community on the North Shore of Long Island, in Nassau County. It has some of the most expensive real estate in the country, with homes ranging in values from USD 2 million to USD 15 million.

Laurel Hollow is home to the 107-acre Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an internationally recognized genetic and cancer research centre that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The experimental stations from which it grew were established in 1893, predating the village.

Three researchers at the centre have won Nobel prizes for their genetic work.