Industrialist, Tata Group’s former chairman, and head of Shapoorji Pallonji Group Cyrus P Mistry died in a road accident on Sunday afternoon, when the car — in which he and three others were travelling — rammed into a divider in the neighbouring Palghar district in Maharashtra.
Mistry and three others were returning from Ahmedabad to Mumbai when their car hit a divider on a bridge near Charoti in the Palghar district, at 3.15 pm.
Palghar Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle and the car crashed into a divider near Charoti on a bridge over a river. Mistry died on the spot.
While a fellow traveller Jahangir Binshah Pandole too died on the spot, two others Anahita Pandole and Darius Pandole sustained injuries.
The two injured Pandoles were admitted to a nearby hospital. Dr Anahita, a gynecologist at Breach Candy hospital in south Mumbai, was driving the car, when the mishap occurred.
Mistry was 54 and is survived by his wife Rohiqa Chagla and two sons Firoz Mistry and Zahan Mistry.
Mistry’s death came nine weeks after his Industrialist-father Pallonji Mistry passed away at an age of 93 on June 28 in Mumbai.
Mistry, who was the sixth chairman of Tata Group and second non-Tata to lead the country’s leading business group, had an Irish passport on account of his mother being an Irish citizen of Indian extraction. Having acquired Overseas Citizenship of India, he was a permanent resident of India.
Terming Mistry’s death as a “big loss” to the world of business, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The untimely demise of Shri Cyrus Mistry is shocking. He was a promising business leader who believed in India’s economic prowess. His passing away is a big loss to the world of commerce and industry. Condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace”.
Worth approximately $10 billion in 2018, Cyrus
Mistry had taken over as the chairman after Ratan Tata announced his retirement in December 2012.
He functioned as the Tata Group chairman for nearly four years. However, in October 2016, the board of Tata Sons, the Tata Group’s holding company, voted Mistry out as the chairman of the Tata Group. Group’s former chairman Ratan Tata returned as its interim chairman. Natarajan Chandrahekaran was named as the new chairman a few months later.
In a vindication of sorts for Mistry, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) declared Chandrashekan’s appointment as illegal and restored him in the post in December 2019.
On his part, Mistry announced that he would not return as the chairman of the Tata Group, but preferred to remain on the board of directors of the Group. However, the Supreme Court stayed NCLAT’s order on January 10, 2020. Mistry filed a cross appeal in the court, seeking explanations for anomalies in the NCLAT. The apex court upheld his dismissal.
Born on July 4, 1968 in a Parsi family from then Bombay now Mumbai to parents Pallonji Mistry and Pasty Perin Dubash - both of whom belonged to Zoroastrian faith with roots in India, Mistry did Civil Engineering from the University of London in 1990.
He later studied at London Business School and was awarded International Executive Masters in Management from the University of London.
After his education, Mistry joined his family construction company Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd as a director in 1991. Mistry was the managing director of the company, before becoming the head of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. The Pallonji family holds an 18.5 per cent stake in Tata Sons.
N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons who succeeded Mistry, mourned the business leader’s “untimely demise”. “I am deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely demise of Mr. Cyrus Mistry. He had a passion for life and it is really tragic that he passed away at such a young age. My deepest condolences and prayers for his family in these difficult times,” Chandrasekaran said in a statement.
Describing Mistry as “a friend, gentleman, a man of substance”, RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka said, “I got to know Cyrus well during his all-too-brief tenure as the head of the House of Tata. I was convinced he was destined for greatness. If life had other plans for him, so be it, but life itself should not have been snatched away from him. Om Shanti.”
Expressing her shock over Mistry’s death, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted, “Cyrus Mistry’s death comes as a shock. He was committed to carrying forward and strengthening his business in infra and infra projects. He desired to keep contributing to India’s economic progress. Condolences to his family and friends.”
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar termed Mistry as a “dynamic and brilliant entrepreneur”. “Deeply saddened to hear about the shocking news of the untimely demise of the former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry. He was a dynamic and brilliant entrepreneur. We lost one of the brightest stars of Corporate World,” Pawar said.
“Devastating News My Brother Cyrus Mistry passed away. Can’t believe it. Rest in Peace Cyrus,” NCP MP Supriya Sule tweeted.
Condoling Mistry’s death, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal said: “Deeply anguished & shocked by the sudden passing away of Cyrus Mistry. Indian industry has lost one of its shining stars whose contributions to India’s economic progress will always be remembered…My heartfelt condolences to his family & friends”.
