Business tycoon Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of the Tata Group, has passed away in a road accident. Mistry was 54.

He was the second chairman of the multinational business conglomerate to not bear the Tata surname. In 2013, the year he was appointed Tata chairman, Cyrus Mistry was referred to by The Economist as “the most important industrialist in both India and Britain.” Mistry was removed from his position as chairman in 2016.

Who was Cyrus Mistry?

Cyrus Mistry, an Irish citizen, was born in Mumbai, India on July 4, 1968. He was the younger son of Pallonji Mistry, who headed the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which began as a construction company in the 19th century, but grew into a conglomerate with diversified interests. 

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Cyrus studied at the Cathedral & John Cannon School and went on to get an undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 1990 from the University of London. The University, in 1996, awarded him an International Executive Masters degree in management. In 1991, Mistry joined the family business as a director. 

Mistry was related to the Tata family through his sister Aloo, who is the wife of Noel Tata, the half-brother of former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. In the 1930s, Shapoorji Mistry, Cyrus’s grandfather, had obtained stake in Tata Sons, which currently stands at 18.5%.

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Mistry’s first professional association with the Tata Group was as a board member of Tata Sons, which he joined in 2006, after his father stepped down from the position.

He was appointed Tata Sons chairman in 2013. The board voted to remove him in October 2016, a move that Cyrus Mistry fought legally. He won a few battles, but the lost the war when the Supreme Court upheld his removal in 2020. 

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In 2019, Cyrus and his older brother Shapoor Mistry joined the list of India’s top 10 richest people, sharing the 9th rank, with wealth of Rs 694 billion each, according to the Barclays Hurun India Rich List.

Cyrus Mistry was married to Rohiqa Chagla and they have two sons, Firoz and Zahan.