NEW DELHI (PTI): India’s top industrialist, J, R.D, Tata, the scion of one of the country’s wealthiest families who is credited with bringing the country on the airlines map, died in his sleep in Geneva Nov.29
He was 89.
The cause of death of the former chairman of Tata Sons Lid was not revealed by his Bombay house.
Born in 1904 to an Indian father and a French mother, Jahangir Ratan ji Dadhabhoy Tata better known by his initials JRD, had a rich, multifaceted career as a soldier, aviator, industrialist, a champion for the cause of science and one of the earliest crusaders for family planning.
Born in France, he educated in educated in Bombay’s Cathedral School, on return to France he was conscripted into the French army and commissioned in a crack unit in Algeria in 1924.
But his foremost passion was flying he fell in love with planes when he took a joyride as a teenager. The passion was the basis for setting up the Tala airlines; India’s first, in 1932 when he piloted its inaugural service between Karachi and Bombay.
The concern later grew into Air India, the nation’s flag carrier, with which he retained his ties even after its nationalization in 1953 and remained its chairman till 1978. But aviation was not JRD’s sole preoccupation. On return to India from France, JRD was brought into Tata steel as an aide to John Peterson, a Scotsman who ran the company in the 1920s.
From the day he jointed, every paper that came to Peterson was routed through JRD — the process of learning how to run an empire had its origins in that simple move.
In 1926, JRD inherited. A chair on the board of Tata sons, Lid, on the death of his father Ratan Tata and by 1938, when Sir Nowroji Saklatvala, head of Tata’s died, he became the undisputed head of the board.
‘The past 40 years under IRD saw the Tata group flowered with the addition of a number of companies and consultancy services, foreign collaboration and its export thrust.
In 1930 he met and married Thelma, an Austrian. JRD and his wife became a familiar part of the Elite Bombay society. His char, erudition and above all, the dash and “man of action” image endeared him to many.
Vital national issues mattered deeply to JRD. Family planning, for instance, was close to his heart. As a member of Indian government’s population advisory council, he was one of its very vocal spokesmen.
Lending his name and all the power it commands to the cause of science, he was president of the Indian institute of science, Bangalore, member of the CSIR and of the atomic energy commission. ‘The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a premier institute of its kind in the world.
JRD received several national and international honors, was appointed officer of the legion of honor, by the French government and Knight Commander of the order of St Gregory by Pope Paul Vi, He also received the Durga Khaitan gold medal.
President Dr.S.D.Shama Monday expressed grief at his passing away and said Tata would always be remembered.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 3, 1993
