RISE OF THE KHAN

Lahore to The Y

hahid Rafiq Khan was born on July 18, 1950, in Lahore, Pakistan to a middle-class family. His father was an entrepreneur and lawyer by profession and his mother a maths teacher by trade. After inheriting money from his paternal grandfather, Khan’s father started his own law school, hoping the young Khan would follow in his steps and study law. However, the youngster had dreams that were too big for his hometown Lahore. Khan fell in love with the American dream and desperately wanted to move to the States to further his studies and chase down his fortune. After much deliberation and eventually securing the funds to send their young son on his future path, a 16-year-old Khan boarded a plane to Chicago, not knowing what the future would hold for him. Upon his arrival in the United States, Khan was dropped off in the small campus town of Champaign, home to the University of Illinois. The young Pakistani boy was on