been suffering from a prolonged heart ailment for about 10 years. He died at 7:45 pm (IST) on 21 July 2001 at the age of 72 just three months prior to his 73rd birthday for which he had special plans. A documentary Parasakthi Muthal Padayappa Varai was made to commemorate Sivaji Ganesan's legacy. He was given a State funeral. His funeral the next day was telecast live on Sun TV and was attended by thousands of viewers, politicians and personalities from the South Indian film fraternity. Ramkumar, performed his last rites at the Besant Nagar Crematorium, Chennai. International recognition When President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt visited India, Sivaji Ganesan was the only individual granted permission by the then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to host a party for Nasser. Nasser was given a number of valuable mementos depicting the civilisation and culture of South India. Sivaji Ganesan was the first artist from India to visit the United States, in the cultural exchange programme of the US government, in 1962, invited by the then-US President John F. Kennedy, where he took the role of India's cultural ambassador. During his visit there, he was honoured by being made the honorary mayor of Niagara Falls, New York for one day and was presented the golden key to the city. The only other Indian who has had this honour before Ganesan was Jawaharlal Nehru. When Sivaji returned from America, there was a huge crowd to receive him at the Madras Airport and M. G. Ramachandran was there. When Sivaji returned from Egypt after winning the best actor award, there was a huge crowd to receive him at the Madras Airport. On 22 March 1976, he went over to Mauritius on an invitation from Prime Minister Ramagoolam and took part in their independence day celebrations and stayed as their government guest for four days. During his visit to the United States in June 1995, he visited Columbus, Ohio. Participating in the dinner hosted to honour Ganesan, the Mayor of the city, Greg Lashutka honoured him by announcing him as an honorary citizen of Columbus. On the same occasion, the Mayor of Mount Vernon read out and gave him a special welcome citation. The Columbus Tamil Sangam was formulated on that day and Ganesan was made the honorary President of that association. Although Sivaji appeared less in leading roles after the 1980s, his supporting roles were