Message from Jayant’s family:
We are utterly devastated to inform you that our dear Jayant/Daddy/Nana left us suddenly, without any warning, on Sunday, May 12 around 3:45 pm. He had spent a lovely morning and afternoon playing golf, hanging out with Gautam, cracking jokes, playing with Anupriya & Arjun and making lunch for all of us. He was full of life, content and looking forward to spending this coming week in NYC with Rahul and Uma and all the other fun-filled plans for the weeks ahead. He then went downstairs to listen to his favorite songs from his playlist, work out and then just quietly, in the most uncharacteristic style, left us forever.
The Fortess Family announces with great sadness the loss of their beloved founding member, mentor and guide Mr.Jayant Pendharkar. Our heart goes out to his wife Ranjana and his daughters Namita and Amrita and their families.
Jayant has been one of the most well-known figure in the TCS family. After doing his B.Tech from IIT Bombay and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, he joined TCS in 1971. He was in the pioneering group of TCS and was personally involved in establishing the relationship with Burroughs Corporation in the US – the first step towards the creation of the software powerhouse that TCS has become. He did many things in TCS- system development, marketing, and relationship building. He was driving all activities in creating the brand of TCS, as TCS worked towards its listing, aiding substantially in its subsequent growth.
His interests were many and varied. Sports was a passion for him and he played many games – rugby, tennis, and golf. He wanted TCSers to be involved in sports and Maitree, a family initiative of TCS, was the vehicle for him to get the families involved in sports.
He was an extrovert…A fine gentleman, always full of life and enthusiasm, Mr. Jayant genuinely cared for people and will go any distance to help people. He mentored many young professionals. HIs vision and intense follow up helped us bring to reality our dream, Fortess. His high energy and positive attitude was contagious enough to cheer anyone up. He wanted the best for everyone.
He touched each one he came across. It would be appropriate if the people he was in contact with can post a few instances of their interactions with him. While we will miss him, this recollection of his thoughts and value systems will always remain a lesson forever.
Obituary
The tribute from M.Suresh Kumar, his long time associate, friend and co worker with him in FORTESS, is reproduced below :
My friend Jayant has been gone for two days now. I am in a state of shock even now. Devastated. I am still to come to terms with the reality that I will not see him again. No more calls from him asking the status, seeking suggestions, discussing totally random topics. I wanted to write an obituary. But I have been struggling. There is a big vacuum. Nothing coherent was coming out.
Jayant was a close friend of mine for many years; the closeness grew even more in the last few years thanks to our working for the formation of FORTESS and activities associated with that. The residential propinquity contributed a lot – I lived just across the street from his apartment. I was always at his beck and call – gladly, I would add.
Jayant’s virtues are innumerable and faults – mostly peccadilloes, I would think – so few. Probably one fault was that there was too much goodness in him. With a pedigreed academic ground – the coveted IIT/IIM credentials -, he was very knowledgeable, widely read and had a prodigious memory for all events, but rarely considered himself to be an intellectual. That honour he would bestow on his dad – the acclaimed economist and the founder Executive Trustee of UTI, Mr. V.G. Pendharkar -, who would be at ease with working with Tensor Calculus, etc as an octogenarian. He was in real awe of his father.
Very often, he joked about himself, almost self-deprecating, and took jokes on him very sportingly. Most of the people will remember him for his sense of humour. He could defuse any situation by injecting a sense of humour at the appropriate time. As a raconteur, he could vividly narrate stories from the past including the installation of the ICL machine, import of B-1700 or his adventure in the torrential rains and his getting caught in them. With some more focus, he could have easily chosen the career of a writer-journalist.
People used to approach him with all kinds of issues and problems and he would unhesitatingly extend his helping hand, without bothering about whether it was within his jurisdiction or not. I remember him talking to a financial consultant about how he can help his maid’s children’s education or trying to find out contact details of someone from the Police Department to protect his servant from the threats of her drunkard spouse. His reportees would consider him more like a friend and colleague, rather than a honcho. He would disagree with the, shout at them, chide them – but that was all transient. He never carried any spite afterwards – he was incapable of it. Never vindictive.
I was also immensely touched by the fact that he sought my suggestions and feedback, which he seemed to value quite a lot (something I was increasingly getting unaccustomed to from others!).
He was an incorrigible sportsman. He was a very good rugby player, but had to stop because of some serious injury. He took up tennis very enthusiastically and was a decent player for many years, which again he had to stop because of some joint problems in the leg. He has told me that he has participated in the Vertical Marathon at NY Empire State Building, the very thought of which makes me dizzy. Then he took to playing golf and was an inveterate and passionate player, religiously making it to the various golf clubs virtually every day. He was willing to give you time anytime as long as his golf routine was not disturbed. This is my medicine, without that I will cease to exist. Ironically he made his exit from the world after playing golf earlier in the day.
He had all the ingredients which endeared him to people in every role played – a caring husband, loving father, doting grandfather, compassionate colleague, inspiring leader and a zealous sportsman – all rolled into one large frame.
In the past few years, he had put his heart and soul into conceptualizing and bringing into existence FORTESS, for which he had great vision. Giving back to the society, leaving footprints on the sands of time and what not! But he did not contend with the administrative and compliance work involved, which took up a lot of time. He was becoming disillusioned with its progress, the direction it was taking, the support he was getting, absence of participation from members, etc. Then he would in true Micawber-like fashion was confident that something will turn up. In fact a day before he passed away, he spoke to me about the specifications for the web site, sent me a message thereafter. I messaged him back and was wondering why I was not getting a response. Now I do know why. Actually, the response came in the form of a phone call from V Ravi from Chennai on Monday morning, informing me of the dreadful news.
Despite his age, he had a very active life and a hectic travel schedule. On one day, he will be in Bangalore to visit an ailing classmate, another day in Ahmedabad to his sick brother-in-law, yet another day to Delhi for an alumni meet, etc. For a few days, he would be off to see the Australian Open, a few days to Goa to accompany his daughter and family and then, for more than 2 months in U.S. to be with his family and circle of friends. He also used these occasions to collect speeding tickets – I remember he collected one from Italy and one from Australia in the last year or so! Probably these were the mementos he wanted to collect.
After seeing all this, I was tempted to ask him whether he was doing the right thing at this age, considering his medical history – he was highly diabetic, and had a heart attack before (in America only), and probably had some BP issues also. But then I knew it would be infructuous. Knowing Jayant, he would be impervious to any suggestions – he wanted to live a free, unfettered life and enjoy it to the most.
Probably, God – in Whom he did not believe (despite living a stone’s throw from the famed Siddhivinayak Temple, I never saw him visiting it even once) – gave him the kind of death he would have secretly wanted – sudden, un-suffering and unannounced. It would have pained him (and us) to see himself incapacitated and bed-ridden.
In conclusion, please permit me to paraphrase the Bard in a way that aptly described him – Here was a Jayant, when comes such another?
Message from Ranjana:
The best bosses aren’t bosses- they are leaders”. This is an ode to one of the greatest bosses I have had during my professional career of 28 years. Jayant Pendharkar was my supervisor for most part of my tenure at TCS where I spent my first 11 years before moving onto Wipro. It’s difficult to describe Jayant as he was very unconventional. He had a pedigreed lineage both in terms of academics and parents. He passed out from two prestigious institutions- IIT (B) and IIM (A) but always downplayed his credentials in every aspect.
Jayant was very knowledgeable on all subjects but he never showed off and was humility personified. He was highly networked and that was because he was a very good human being, compassionate, honest, just, with a witty sense of humour, totally non-political, with the highest levels of integrity and always ready to help anyone in need- right from a colleague, client, friend, to the down trodden. Jayant was a strong sponsor of diversity and women empowerment. Fitness was his passion whether- rugby, tennis, golf and he used to encourage all of us to play some game. Every morning, if in Mumbai, he used to play tennis religiously in Bombay Gym.
As they say, “respect is always earned and not commanded” and this adage was very true for Jayant. He held a very senior leadership position in TCS, but all of us loved and respected him because he deserved every bit of it. As a boss, he always ensured the learnings were immense. He was a perfectionist and he taught me how to be impeccable and meticulous in doing every minute task and my communication skills, proposal writing, deal closures, negotiations, client relationship management were all learnt from him to a great extent. He was never a boss who would take credit and would always bestow it all on his teams and gave us immense freedom to flourish on our own. He would reprimand if you have done something wrong, and behind you, he will fight tooth and nail to support you and take the blame upon himself and you would never even come to know. A true leader with empathy, right values and a rarity. I can state with confidence that Jayant did not ever have a single enemy- only friends and well- wishers. That’s an enormous blessing in today’s world.
When my father passed away in 1999 and I went home to Rourkela, he couriered me a handwritten letter, “ Please don’t hurry and come back to join work. Your Mother needs you now more than ever, so please take your time.” Those words always remained etched in my memory and my respect for him went up manifold.
Some of my strongest leadership and team management skills, I have learnt from Jayant and which stayed with me all thru. Even after I left TCS 17 years back in 2002 to join Wipro, our strong ties remained and we were in touch quite frequently and I used to also visit his home once awhile. Whenever we spoke or met, it was like old times, and I behaved like the young, naive reportee in front of him- all layers peeled off.
Jayant was a legend, a boss and a leader par excellence. Jayant left us all in a jiffy in his trademark, sudden way on 12th May 2019 in the US and he must be gently, blissfully smiling down at us while we lesser mortals are struggling to come to terms with his loss. We will miss you Jayant.
