By James Dean
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.
“Ratan Tata has left an extraordinary legacy in India, across the world and at Cornell, which he cared about deeply,” said Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff. “Ratan’s quiet demeanor and humility belied his international profile. His generosity and concern for others enabled research and scholarship that improved the education and health of millions of people in India and beyond, and extended Cornell’s global impact.”
Born into a prominent industrial family in 1937, Tata forged his own path through Ithaca, enrolling at Cornell at the encouragement of close family friends in the U.S. Arriving as a member of the Class of 1959 who planned to study mechanical engineering, Tata after two years decided to major in architecture instead.
Though he did not pursue an architecture career – being called back to the family business and starting as an apprentice on a shop floor at Tata Steel – Tata from 2014-19 served on the jury panel for the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the field’s top honors. He credited his Cornell architectural training for some of his success in business, including learning to approach problems creatively and from multiple perspectives.
“The miles of tracing paper that all of us wasted on one concept after another did one thing: It taught us that we didn’t stick with one thing,” Tata said in a documentary produced by classmates for his 50th reunion in 2009. “We tried and we tried, and we improved, and we reconceived what we had to do. It’s no different in business.”
“When Ratan Tata graduated from Cornell with a degree in architecture, it would have been impossible to imagine the global impact his visionary leadership, philanthropy and commitment to humanity would go on to have – advancing education and research across many sectors,” said J. Meejin Yoon, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP. “Looking back over Ratan’s life and career, I am not only filled with gratitude for all he has given and accomplished, but also with a deep respect for his kindness, generosity and eternal optimism that has improved lives in India and around the world.”
Tata’s engineering and design background was instrumental in Tata Motors’ 2008 launch of the Tata Nano, then the world’s most affordable production car, which sought to improve safety for lower-income drivers limited to motorcycles and scooters.
In the reunion documentary, Tata discussed his aversion to Ithaca winters, appreciation for his fraternity, Alpha Sigma Phi, and love of flying, a hobby he pursued as a student. (With several classmates on board, he once safely executed an emergency landing at what is now Ithaca Tompkins International Airport after a strut failed in the single-engine Tri-Pacer he was piloting.) He also discussed some of the challenges international students faced, at a time when few came from India – numbers his 2008 gift would boost. As of this academic year, 305 Tata scholarships have been awarded to 89 students from India, with a special emphasis on supporting students from “non-feeder” schools, helping to attract talented applicants and elevate the university’s profile there.
The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, meanwhile, continues to develop and assess innovative food systems-based approaches to reducing poverty and improving nutrition and livelihoods in the developing world, with a specific focus on India. Multidisciplinary teams with expertise ranging from economics and development sociology to international nutrition and food science are based in Ithaca, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Those initiatives followed then-President David Skorton’s 2007 visit to India with a Cornell delegation to learn more about the country’s growing influence and foster closer ties. Tata helped facilitate the delegation’s meeting with then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior officials in government, business and education.
At Cornell Tech, the Tata Innovation Center provides space for education, research and interaction with industry partners. The building also provides space for Cornell Tech students and recent graduates who are developing and commercializing new ideas, technologies and products, as well as launching startups.
“What we’re here today to recognize is not just the naming of a building, not just a new campus, but a very bold statement,” Tata said at the building’s dedication in 2017.
In addition to serving three terms as a trustee, from 2006 to 2022, Tata was named Cornell’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013, and served from 2014 on as a member of AAP’s Advisory Council. Among many international awards, Tata received two of the Indian government’s top civilian honors; was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering as a foreign associate in 2013; and in 2012 received a lifetime achievement award in philanthropy from the Rockefeller Foundation for “thoughtfully incorporating the public good into the business model of the Tata Group.” In 2007, the Tata family was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and Barron’s magazine named Tata one of the world’s 30 most respected CEOs.
Tata, who never married or had children, valued his years in Ithaca and returned regularly for trustee meetings and reunions.
“Getting through Cornell gave me a sense of achievement,” Tata said in 2009. “Those years at Cornell were probably the best investment that one could have made in time.”
James Dean is a writer for the Cornell Chronicle.
