Cyrus Mistry, 54, scion of one of India’s most illustrious business families and the former chairman of Tata Sons, died on Sunday in a car accident, less than three months after the death of his father Pallonji Mistry, 93, in June.
An Indian-born Irish businessman, Mistry was instrumental in the turnaround and expansion of Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group) into a global construction conglomerate, after he joined the family construction business as managing director in 1991.
SP Group owns an 18.4 per cent stake in the $128 billion Tata Group valuing Pallonji Mistry's net worth at $29 billion at the time of his death, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him one of the richest men in India.
Cyrus and his older brother Shapoor were most likely to inherit the patriarch Pallonji Mistry's prized holdings.
A UK-trained civil engineer and London Business School graduate, Mistry served as the chairman of the Tata Group from 2012 until 2016 as its sixth chairman and only the second (after Nowroji Saklatwala) to not have a Tata last name.
Soft-spoken Mistry raked up corporate governance issues at the $125 billion salt-to-software conglomerate after he was unceremoniously ousted as the Tata Group chairman following differences with patriarch and business legend Ratan Tata, whom he succeeded as chairman.
Mistry fought Tatas in court for almost five years to overturn the dismissal.
Mistry challenged his ouster and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered to reinstate Mistry as executive chairman. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the dismissal was fair and set aside an NCLAT order of 2019 to reinstate Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman.
Mistry is survived by his wife Rohiqa and their two sons Firoz Mistry and Zahan Mistry; his mother Patsy, and his two sisters Laila and Aloo and brother Shapoor, who now runs the 157-year-old Shapoorji Pallonji group as chairman.