Industrialist and philanthropist Ratan N. Tata ’59, B.Arch. ’62 dies at 86
Read the full story by James Dean in the Cornell Chronicle.
Ratan N. Tata ’59, B. Arch. ’62, one of India’s most influential and respected business leaders and philanthropists, and a former Cornell trustee who became the university’s largest international donor – supporting scholarships, research to reduce rural poverty and malnutrition in India, and technology innovation – died Oct. 9 in Mumbai. He was 86.
Tata was chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, the holding company for the Tata Group, a multinational conglomerate with interests ranging from steel, cars and infrastructure to financial and digital services, consumer brands and hospitality. The company expanded its global reach and grew significantly under Tata’s leadership from 1991 to 2012, with revenue exceeding $100 billion upon his retirement, while being recognized for a focus on the public good. From 2012 until his death, Tata chaired the Tata Trusts, India’s largest private-sector philanthropic organization and owner of a 66% stake in the Tata Group, as well as his own venture capital firm.
In 2008, a $50 million gift from the Tata Trusts created the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, a long-term research initiative, and endowed the Tata Scholarship for Students from India. In 2017, a $50 million investment from Tata Consultancy Services helped build the Tata Innovation Center on Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island campus in New York City.