JRD Tata – Introduction to a blog post about the first licensed pilot of India. Also founder of industries under the Tata group.
One of the most well-known people from India was JRD Tata (Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata). Whose contributions to his country is immense. Born into a family with long-lasting influence in industry. Therefore, Tata began flying at an early age and went on to become the first licensed pilot in India. He also founded many industries under his namesake; one of which was called “Tata Consultancy Services”. Tata adopted a self-reliant approach to industrial development and was instrumental in the creation of an Indian identity.
Tata played a large role in building up Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software company and among the top such companies in the world. He also led to change across India’s private sector but remained a deeply humble man throughout his life, with none of the trappings of wealth he could have afforded himself with. JRD Tata died on November 29, 1993 at the age of 89.
JRD Tata Biography
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (29 July 1904 – 29 November 1993) was an Indian aviator, industrialist, entrepreneur and chairman of Tata Group. Born into the Tata family of India, he was the son of noted businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his wife Suzanne Brière. His mother was the first woman in India to drive a car and, in 1929, also he became the first licensed pilot in India. He is also best known for being the founder of several industries under the Tata Group, including Tata Consultancy Services.
JRD Tata was awarded India’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1992. He was also a recipient of the French Legion d’Honneur and held an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. Tata received a number of awards for his philanthropic work as well as for his leadership in industry.
How are JRD Tata and Ratan Tata related?
JRD Tata and his older brother, Ratanjibhai Tata, gained their first education in the United States. Their father, Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, had studied economics at Cambridge University. When he returned to India in 1898 from Cambridge to start his own business ventures, he brought back with him parenting techniques and modern management that were well ahead of their time for India. JRD Tata was the youngest of four children born to Ratanji Dadabhoy and Suzanne Brière.
JRD Tata marriage and children?
Tata became an Indian citizen in 1929 after giving up his French citizenship. Tata wed Thelma Vicaji in 1930. She was Jack Vicaji’s niece and the lawyer he hired to represent him in a case where he was accused of speeding in his Bugatti along Bombay’s main boulevard, Marine Drive. Prior to it, he was engaged to Dinbai Mehta, who would later become Shapur Kharegat’s mother, the editor of The Economist. JRD Tata lived a very long time, yet he never had kids.
How many brothers and sisters JRD had?
He had two younger brothers, Darab and Jamshed, as well as two younger sisters, Rodabeh and Sylla. JRD Tata in aviation
Death and heritage
JRD Tata passed away from a renal infection on November 29, 1993, in Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 89. A few days before he passed away, he said, “Comme c’est doux de mourir” (“How gentle it is to die”).
After his passing, the Indian Parliament was suspended in his honour, an honour rarely bestowed upon non-parlamentarians. He was laid to rest at Paris’ Père Lachaise Cemetery.
In a survey sponsored by Outlook magazine, “conducted in association with CNN-IBN and History18 Channels with BBC,” Tata was ranked as the sixth “The Greatest Indian” in 2012.
