Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts - Under JRD Tata

Under JRD Tata

What has helped the Trust in achieving its objectives has been the presence of distinguished personalities, most of them industry pioneers, on its board. Among them were JRD Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, Sir Ardeshir Dalal, Dr John Matthai and Sir Homi Mody.

The involvement of JRD Tata in the affairs of Trust is not just incidental. Being a trustee since the Trust's inception, he held the position of chairman during the last 25 years of his life. His imprint is visible in the setting up of the Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, National Institute of Advanced Studies and National Centre for the Performing Arts. His role was especially crucial in the establishment of the Tata Memorial Hospital. Right from its conceptual stages in early 1941, till it became a national centre for cancer research and treatment, JRD Tata was there all along to guide its destinies. In 1957, when the government of India's ministry of health temporarily took over the Tata Memorial Hospital, JRD Tata, along with Dr Homi Bhabha, the pioneer of India's nuclear energy programme, had the vision to foresee the role of radiation in cancer treatment and prevailed on the government to have the administrative control of the hospital transferred to the department of atomic energy in 1962.

He had also put his own money and efforts to set up, in 1944, the multipurpose JRD Tata Trust. Many years later, he established the JRD and Thelma J Tata Trust, selling part of his shares and an apartment in Mumbai. The Trust works to improve the lot of India's disadvantaged women.