The social media post included a photo of Haley hugging her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, at an event in her native South Carolina to launch her presidential bid in 2023.
Haley, who suspended her bid for the Republican nomination for president in early March, presented herself during her campaign as the proud daughter of Indian immigrants.
The former governor of South Carolina was the first prominent woman of color to run for the Republican nomination for the White House. Last month she said she would vote for Donald Trump.
This morning I had to say goodbye to the smartest, sweetest, kindest, most decent man I have ever known. My heart is heavy knowing he is gone. He taught his children the importance of faith, hard work and grace. He was a wonderful husband of 64 years, a loving grandfather and wonderful… pic.twitter.com/bQIkH8QUyz
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) June 16, 2024
In her 2012 memoir, “Can't Is Not an Option,” Haley wrote about growing up in a small, segregated community in South Carolina. Her father kept his long hair and turban despite people whispering and pointing, causing a “silent rage” in young Haley.
Her parents, both from Sikh families in India, were married through an arranged marriage. Her father, a biologist, left for Canada 'with eight dollars in his pocket', leaving his wife and son behind in India. They later joined him.
He received his PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and in 1969 he took a teaching position at Voorhees College in Denmark, SC.
“It is difficult to overstate the unusual figures my father and mother created in central South Carolina in 1969,” wrote Haley, who described her father as “tall and proud, with his Sikh turban.”
She said her parents saw “the ugly residue of a less tolerant time” and did not want to rent a house. Haley was born in 1972 and was born by the first doctor in the area with a segregated clinic, she wrote.
Haley, one of four children, described her father in her memoir as “a remarkably tolerant and easy-going boy.”
When she campaigned for governor, her father hid “in the corner” at her campaign events because he didn't want to hurt her chances, she recalls. They sat in the front row at her inauguration.
During her bid for the 2024 Republican nomination, Haley walked a fine line on gender and race in an effort to appeal to the Republican base.
She was careful to emphasize that being a woman of color was not a barrier to success. In a speech launching her underdog bid, she said that “America is not a racist country.”
Haley did not specify her father's cause of death. She paused her campaign in January to visit him in the US Hopital.
“He was a wonderful husband of 64 years, a loving grandfather and great-grandfather, and the best father to his four children. He was such a blessing to all of us,” Haley wrote on Sunday.
Joyce Lau contributed to this report.
