Kirtilal Manilal Mehta
Kirtilal M. Mehta on Indian postage stamp, 2018
Born(1907-02-07)February 7, 1907
Palanpur, India
DiedJuly 21, 1993(1993-07-21) (aged 86)
Antwerp, Belgium
Other namesBapaji
Organization(s)Beautiful Diamonds
Gembel Group
Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre
Spouses
  • Lilavati Mehta
  • Esther Mehta
Children7
AwardsOrder of Leopold from the King of Belgium

Kirtilal Manilal Mehta (7 February 1907 – 21 July 1993) was an Indian businessman.[1]

Career

Kirtilal Mehta was born in 1907 in Palanpuri Jain community and was a strict Jain vegetarian.[2]

He started his career in 1918 in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar). He established diamond manufacturing and export houses, Gembel Group of Companies, which has offices worldwide.[3]

Mehta established his own diamond company in the year 1944, which is known as Beautiful Diamonds, in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India. In 1953, he started his Gembel company in Antwerp, Belgium, followed in 1956 by a Gembel branch in Hong Kong, in 1968 by a Gembel center in Tel Aviv, Israel, and in 1973 by Occidental Gems in Manhattan, US.[1]

Philanthropy

He founded Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, which is named after his first wife, Lilavati Mehta, who died due to lack of medical facilities in Chandigarh while they were on a pilgrimage to Haridwar, India.[4] He founded a new hospital and school in his birthplace, Palanpur. He had adopted 50 villages in Gujarat, providing essential amenities including education, water and health facilities.[3]

Death

At 86, Mehta died in a hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, on 21 July 1993.[1]

His funeral was attended by Nicky Oppenheimer, Alec Barbour, Nigel Wisden, Arjun G. Sengupde, the Indian ambassador to Belgium and several De Beers colleagues and leading members of the diamond community and representatives of Belgium, Israeli and Indian governments.[3]

Awards and honours

Mehta received several awards for his outstanding contributions to the trade and economy of the countries where he established his business. He was honoured with the Order of Leopold, the highest order of Belgium given by Boudewijn of Belgium, the King of Belgium.[2] He was awarded An Outstanding Exporter's Award was conferred by the Government of Israel, and the Nawab of Palanpur bestowed the title of Azazur-E-Riazat.

In September 2018, he was honoured posthumously for establishing Lilavati Hospital by Hirani Mata Sthanak Trust and the award was received by his son Prabodh Mehta.[5]

On his 111th birth anniversary of Kirtilal Mehta, the Government of India's Postal department released a commemorative postal stamp featuring him and his Lilavati Hospital in 2018.[4][6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Kirtilal M. Mehta, 86; Built a Gem Company". The New York Times. July 23, 1993.
  2. 1 2 Rajghatta, Chidanand (November 28, 2004). "The early birds in the trade". The Times of India. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Late Kirtilal Manilal Mehta Eulogized By Industry Leaders". Diamonds.net. August 5, 1993.
  4. 1 2 "Special Indian Postal Stamp Issued to Honour Late Smt. Lilavati and Late Shri Kirtilal M. Mehta". Palanpur Online. September 27, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Kirtilal Manilal Mehta honoured posthumously". The Free Press Journal. September 28, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Postal stamp". August 29, 2018.
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