PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Aug 27: Tata Steel and steel city residents today remembered Sir Dorabji Tata, the company’s first chairman on his 162nd birth anniversary.
Sir Dorabji Tata was the eldest son of the founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and Hirabai Tata.
Sir Dorabji Tata was born on August 27, 1859, in Mumbai. He received his primary education at Proprietary High School in Mumbai, and later, was privately tutored in Kent, England.
He returned to India in 1879 and completed his bachelor’s degree in Arts from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
After graduating, he joined the cotton division of his father’s firm in 1884. He married Lady Meherbai Tata, daughter of Dr. Hormusji Bhabha, a Parsi and the first Indian Inspector-General of Education of Mysore State, in 1897. They had no children.
It was Sir Dorabji Tata who translated his father’s dreams into reality by setting up India’s first integrated steel company (TISCO, now Tata Steel, in 1907); a hydro-electric project (Tata Power in 1910); and a research institute (Indian Institute of Science in 1911).
Sir Dorabji Tata was a keen sportsman. He was an ace tennis player, an expert rower, and an accomplished horseman.
He was a member of the Cambridge football and tennis teams. It was Sir Dorabji Tata who took India to Olympic Games where he selected and financed four athletes and two wrestlers for the Olympic games of Antwerp in 1920.
He spearheaded India’s entry into the 1924 Olympiad in Paris and was chosen as a member of the International Olympic Committee.
He was also the president of the Indian Olympic Association.
In 1931, Lady Meherbai Tata died of leukemia. After her death, Sir Dorabji Tata established the Lady Tata Memorial Trust to advance the study into diseases of the blood. Sir Dorabji Tata also founded a Trust for a charitable purpose, covering property worth over Rs 3 crore.
Sir Dorabji Tata died in Bad Kissingen, Germany on June 3, 1932. He is buried alongside his wife, Lady Meherbai Tata, at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, England.
Sir Dorabji Tata was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to the industry in British India.
To mark the occasion Tata Steel will gift the citizens a renovated Sir Dorabji Tata Park.
The Bistupur-based park was closed for renovation and special illuminations in March, 2019.
