KSB Sanyal (popularly known as Shubi) passed away in the early hours of 13th February. He was the chairman and managing director of Andrew Yule and Company and served as sheriff of Calcutta in 1987.
A “larger than life” personality, he was born in 1930 in undivided Punjab.
His father, Prof SN Sanyal, was an eminent educationist in Punjab and his mother, Nilima, also an educationist, was the first woman to receive a Masters degree from Punjab University.
He obtained a Masters degree and was later educated in the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar. He was a Companion of the British Institute of Management.
He taught at university for a year prior to joining Burmah Shell in 1955. In 1972, he was seconded to Shell International and posted in Lusaka and London but decided to return to India with his three children after the untimely death of his young wife, Sobha, to cancer.
He joined the Andrew Yule Group as chief executive, Tidewater Oil Co (India) in Kolkata in 1975. At the request of the government of India, he also served as the non-executive chairman of Jokai India and Tyre Corporation of India. He was recognised for his civic contributions by being appointed Sheriff of Calcutta in 1987.
He was actively involved in Calcutta’s Tercentenary celebrations and was a member of the Senate of the University of Calcutta.
He was also president of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1989 and chairman of the environment committee of Assocham. A keen golfer, he was president of Tollygunge Club. He was featured in “Merchants of the Raj”, a book on British managing agencies.
In 1991 he was appointed the UN Development Programme envoy for private sector initiatives just as the liberalisation process was beginning in India.
After retiring from the UN, he started a new chapter in his life as a philanthropist. He joined the governing board of Helpage.
He married in 1957 and was widowed in his early 40s. He never remarried and was devoted to his two daughters and son, their spouses as well as his four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.