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The Late Kirtilal Manilal Mehta Eulogized By Industry Leaders
Aug 5, 1993 1:20 PM
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By Brad Logan
Kirtilal Manilal Mehta, the head of the India-based world-wide
Gembel Group of Companies, passed away in Antwerp on July 21,
after a long illness.
Born in the village of Palanpur in Gujarat state in 1907, he was
forced to abandon his schooling on the death of his father to assist
the family business, which was then based in Rangoon, Burma.
The family business quickly prospered and grew from a small
Burma-based jewelry wholesaler into a multinational diamond
trading company that today employs some 25,000 people worldwide.
Honored by the governments of India, Israel and Belgium-most
recently he was made an officer of the order of Leopold by the King
of Belgium-Kirtilal Mehta's rise to a position of leadership and
prominence in the diamond industry has been widely noted.
Oppenheimer Gives Eulogy
His funeral was attended by leading members of the diamond
community and representatives of the Belgium, Israeli and Indian
governments. Nicky Oppenheimer, chairman of the London-based
Diamond Trading Company, along with Alec Barbour, Nigel Wisden,
and several De Beers colleagues, flew to Antwerp to attend the
ceremony. Nicky Oppenheimer spoke at the funeral ceremony,
highlighting the contribution and impact that Kirtilal Mehta made on
the diamond industry.
Mr. Arjun G. Sengupde, the Indian ambassador to Belgium, speaking
at the ceremony, referred to a life decorated with jewels of
achievement and equal to many lives of an ordinary mortal.
Speaking on behalf of his government and the people of India, the
ambassador paid tribute to a great Indian personality who had
contributed to the close ties and association between Antwerp and
India.
In his life-time, Kirtilal Mehta's name was associated with numerous
acts of charity and benevolence. He built a 300-bed hospital in
Bombay in the name of his first wife, Lilavati, and founded a new
hospital and school in his birth place, Palanpur.
Kirtilal Mehta adopted 50 villages in his native Gujarat state,
undertaking to provide basic amenities including schooling, water
and health facilities.
In his later years, Kirtilal spent a great deal of his time in Israel,
where he married his second wife, Esther, an Israeli, and ran a large
Israeli business.
The Gembel Diamond Companies have been sight-holders for over 20
years in India and for some 15 years in Antwerp.
As a young boy, Kirtilal dreamed of becoming a train conductor,
wanting to gain the opportunity to discover and visit India and the
subcontinent.
Talent and Drive
His tremendous talent and drive surpassed his childhood dreams,
and he managed to construct his world-wide network of interests
which regularly took him all over the world, visiting capitals and
places of interest as an investor and businessman and as an avid
sightseer, photographer and tourist.
Until 2 years ago, and already in his 80s, Kirtilal drove himself
around Europe, following his passion for the new, the beautiful and
the unusual.
Following closely the economic development of Southeast Asia and
the Pacific Rim, Kirtilal led his family into new areas, investing in
textiles in Thailand and the Philippines, palm oil in Malaysia and a
range of other investments.
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Tags:
Belgium, De Beers, Government, India, Israel, Jewelry
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