WASHINGTON - Vishnu B. Pandit, 61, wasn’t just an engineer and suburban family man, says M. Nuns Jain, a friend from their days at a Calcutta university. He was a “pioneer.”

Pandit had immigrated to the United States from Mumbai in the mid 1970s. Once he arrived, he quickly earned a second undergraduate degree in marine engineering, from the University of Michigan, and then a master's.

He had led the way and soon cajoled Jain to join him in the U.S. “He persuaded me to come to the States,” Jain said. “He was a pioneer. I followed him … I wasn’t too keen on it. He talked me into it.”

Jain says Pandit believed in the U.S. and its principles, including the importance of government service. On Monday morning, Pandit was fatally shot in the head at the Washington Navy Yard, where he had toiled away for roughly 30 years as an engineer. The massacre left 13 people dead, including the alleged shooter.