Former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry passed away in a car accident
Cyrus Mistry, an Indian scion of one of the country’s most prestigious empires, died in a highway accident near Mumbai on Sunday, according to Maharashtra police.
According to Maharashtra Police Officer Srikant Shinde, Mistry, 54, was one of two people who died when the car they were traveling in crashed into a barrier between two lanes.
Two other people in the vehicle were injured and have been admitted to the hospital, he added.
Palghar District Medical Officer Pradeep Dhodhi said that both the deceased will be postmortemed at a hospital in Mumbai.
Mistry is the former chairman of Tata Sons, the giant Indian conglomerate that owns Jaguar, Land Rover and Taj Hotels.
Mistry was best known as the former chairman of Tata Sons, a major Indian conglomerate that owned Jaguar, Land Rover and Taj Hotels.
The Irish-Indian businessman made headlines in 2011 when he was announced as Tata’s chosen successor, becoming the first person not directly related to the Tata family to head the company that bears his name.
Mistry’s family was a major shareholder in the Mumbai-based conglomerate, which runs high-end companies in several sectors.
In 2016, Mistry was replaced in a sudden corporate shakeup that saw former chairman Ratan Tata come out of retirement to lead the company on an interim basis. Mistry’s ouster led to a bitter public spat between the former president and the group’s board.
Before working with Tata, Mistry was known as the son of Indian construction billionaire Pallonji Mistry and headed the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, known for building skyscrapers and stadiums across India.
“I am deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely death of Mr. Cyrus Mistry,” Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in a statement shared with CNN Business on Monday.
“He loved life and it is truly sad that he passed away at such a young age. My deepest condolences and prayers to his family during this difficult time.”
Other business and government leaders also reacted with shock by taking to social media over the weekend to express their condolences.
“The untimely death of Mr. Cyrus Mistry is shocking. He was a promising business leader who believed in India’s economic prowess,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. “His demise is a great loss to commerce and industry.”
Gautam Adani, the country’s richest man, also said he was “shocked and saddened to hear of his demise.”
“One of the finest gentlemen I know, one of the best business minds of his generation. It’s a sad loss. He was called away too soon,” he wrote on Twitter. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
