Tribute messages from Fortess members:
Tribute to Late Shri Pawan Kumar
1 July 1947 – 6 Feb 2023
I had the opportunity to work closely with Pawan Kumar when he was the President of IBM Global Services and I was the CFO for IBM in India. he was the first TCSer to become a colleague long before I joined TCS. He had great work ethic – hard working, customer focused, eye for details and a natural leader. I recall a couple of large deals we worked together and won, ironically facing TCS in the final round. His tenacity to close a deal was contagious. Pawan was always up-to-date with all details and hence, his decisions were always fact based. He was passionate about FORTESS and was the first to call and ask me to join Fortess – even before I retired from TCS. He was a proud family man at heart – perhaps that drove him to live within a short walk from IBM offices in Bangalore. May his soul attain mukti.🙏🏼- Vishwanathan, Iyer
Pawan led the recruitment team that hired me from BITS Pilani. He also supported me in Delhi in several technical decisions when B6900 came and I restructured the code and data for DESU billing etc. The data reorg took 36hours of compute time and there after each run would take only 18 minutes against several hours. He exhibited faith in peoples ability to do the right thing. I also filled for him for 6 weeks when he cane on leave from Bahrain before going as RM to UK. He was always very supportive and thought of me as an integral part of his team. Before Covid started he came to IIT Delhi AI event and visited us at home.His fond memories will stay with me. May his soul rest in peace. OM SHANTI – Rajiv Sodhi
Pawan’ cabin on the 10th floor AI certainly had an aura. He would ask tough questions (he was my 1st customer!) but would always end the meeting with a supportive understanding that really is his ‘style’. Will miss his mails. May his soul Rest in Peace. – PVLN Rao
The first thing that comes to mind about Pawan is his smile. Equally unforgettable is the line he used to say often – “Everything i am today is because of Kohli Saheb”. It resonates with many of us. – K Subramaniam (KS)
Pawan, was an inspiring leader with strong human and spiritual values. He led by example in showing us all what it means to be results driven, yet compassionate, fair and with uncompromising integrity. His humility and willingness to help everyone demonstrated a remarkable lack of ego for a person who had achieved so much in his lifetime. I shall forever be grateful for the opportunity to have known him both personally and professionally.– Rajiv Marwah
Pawan ji was such an ebullient energetic personality, always so active, fully alert at all times with a 360 degree constant scan of the surroundings even as he was talking to you , always full of new helpful ideas, ready to share them at all times, and ready to help a fellow TCSer irrespective of rank or position, junior or senior. I remember many an occasion relying on his help and advice in the Computer Operations of the Burroughs floor in AI even as a trainee , but more so during the times I visited Delhi where he led the TCS Centers with such dynamism and aplomb. Even when he disagreed on something he disagreed with such a disarming smile and cheerfulness, that it forced one to rethink about the same and his point of view and change one’s stance. All of us will miss him, his energy and cheer , his professionalism and personal touch in all his interactions with us. – Ramanan
So very sorry to hear of Pawan passing away. My heartfelt condolences to his family. I worked with him in the 70’s and have been in touch often over the years. He was a wonderful colleague and friend and I shall miss him dearly – Adi Cooper
We lost a kind, energetic, ever-helpful mentor. – Santosh Madbhav
He gave our 84 batch confidence as we were starting our careers at TCSD. – Somu
Pawan was a very kind person. My heartfelt condolences – Vijaya Deepthi
Pawan was lively and full of action. Fond memories. – Kiran Deshpande
Memorial meet:
It was a heartwarming and emotional meet as ex-TCSers gathered to pay their homage to Shri Pawan Kumar and celebrate his life. The meeting can be viewed at the below link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JnlaJ2WLjcbfm4_tSXoYXiFBb-54T504/view?usp=sharing
Thank you to all who participated and made the evening special. Prayers for the peaceful resting of Shri Pawan Kumar and strength to his family
