Big Shot is Saddened by the Loss of One of its Biggest Fans
Members of the RIT Big Shot meet at the Museo Soumaya (l-r) Michael Peres, Manolo Márquez, Willie Osterman, J. Fernando Naveda, Henry Navas
I first met Henry Navas April 2014. At the time, Henry was a Member of the RIT Board Trustees and I received the following email from Prof J. Fernando Naveda, who worked for the Provost.

“Hi Michael, Henry Navas, a new member of RIT’s board of trustees, and I met in Mexico recently. While visiting museums and other interesting sites, we wondered what it would take to make a Big Shot in Mexico.  We have a couple of ideas in mind but, before we start dreaming too loud, we’d like to meet with you to learn what it takes to get a Big Shot done.  We are certain that your agenda must be busy and that doing a Big Shot must take a long time to prepare. Henry is in town from San Francisco for the BOT meeting and will leave Rochester on Wednesday morning.  We were wondering if it would be possible to meet with you for about an hour or so for coffee either Monday afternoon or Tuesday some time to talk about this.
Thank you” – J. Fernando Naveda, Ph.D.

And so began my brief but important friendship with Henry and his fascination with Big Shot. From the time we met, Henry loved a lot of things about Big Shot. Being a person who enjoyed challenges and process, Henry dreamed BIG Things for Big Shot. Initially he wanted us to photograph the Museo Soumaya, a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City. He liked Big Shot because it brought people together and it had both social and cultural components. November 2016, we visited Mexico City and had planning meetings with representatives of the Museum. He often commented how Big Shot was about art, technology, and so much more. He loved what Big Shot meant to communities and its potential.
J. Fernando Naveda, Professor Willie Osterman, and Henry Navas perform some on-site research about making a Big Shot of the Museum
A day time view of the Museum

Unfortunately for a number of reasons, the Mexico City Big Shot project was unable to gain a commitment from the Museum and we did not make the photograph. While deeply disappointed, we came to terms with the number of cultural, economic, and security reasons that could not be resolved. This outcome did not dampen Henry’s interest in pushing Big Shot forward into new and potentially special projects

In August 2019, Henry championed a Project in India. (l-r) Lyndsey McGrath, Prof Willie Osterman, Henry Navas, Prof Michael Peres, Soumya Dabriwal, Ravi Kantamsetty,

Henry was fascinated with cultural heritage sites and befriended Ravi Kantamsetty, founder of Save the Child. Ravi worked closely with Soumya Dabriwal, founder of Project Baala, and using email, SKYPE, and What’s App, created a plan that might allow us to photograph the Chand Baori, Stepwell in Abhaneri a village of Rajasthan. For months, Big Shot worked closely with Henry, Ravi and mostly with Souyma on executing the plan. In preparation, Soumya applied for a photography permit for the Cultural Heritage site for November 2019. Going to India to make this photograph posed a number of technical and cultural challenges.

RIT Big Shot Coordinators (l-r) Michael Peres, Dan Hughes, and Willie Osterman meet with Abhaneri Village Elders to get permission
RIT Big Shot Coordinators (l-r) Michael Peres, Dan Hughes, and Willie Osterman at the Chand Baori Stepwell with Souyma Dabriwal (l)and Aradhanarai Gupta (r) from Project Baala
A lot of research was performed to determine whether it was possible to make the photograph. In this picture, Big Shot experimented with lighting the 1000 year old subject.


After the November 2019 site visit, we had everything in place and the required approvals needed for the event but unfortunately, the pandemic canceled the November 2020 photograph. Maybe in time this photograph can be made. Henry was a dreamer and not easily deterred and his persistence was to be admired.

Big Shot was saddened to learn of Henry Navas death on October 16, 2022 from multiple myeloma cancer. Henry earned an MBA in 1974 and a master’s degree in accounting in 1977 from Saunders College of Business. His career included work in Xerox’s internal operations analysis department; as director of internal audit at Advanced Micro Devices; and at Cisco Systems, where he became controller and treasurer and helped launch the company’s initial public offering in 1990. He served on several RIT committees, including the board’s education and audit committees, as well as the RIT West Coast Board of Advisors from 2014 to 2020 and the Strategic Plan Task Force from 2014 to 2016. 

Throughout his lifetime, Henry supported of a number of faculty initiatives, including the RIT Big Shot. He also offered significant support to the Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking, created in 2012. Henry always reminded me that when we think we have it all figured out, we are fooling ourselves and others. Henry was a great mentor to me, always supportive, but also willing to push me to be better.” Through our brief but wonderful friendship I learned “He was well respected, a lifelong learner, and wholly believed in RIT’s mission of preparing graduates for the workplace. Henry also never shied away from having fun and finding opportunities to build strong relationships. Every time I saw him, he was full of ideas and suggestions.  We had many long and wonderful conversations about Big Shot and its future. His impact Big Shot will be forever remembered and honored.”

This blog post was authored by Michael Peres

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