Mumbai, September 24
The mortal remains of Dr Raja Ramanna, architect of India’s nuclear weapons programme, were cremated at the Shivaji Park electric crematorium in Central Mumbai this afternoon.
Dr Ramanna passed away early today after a brief illness. He was 79. Dr Ramanna is survived by wife, Malathi, son Shyam and daughters Nina and Nirupa.
According to family sources, he had complained of giddiness and sweating and was rushed to Bombay Hospital on Tuesday where he was diagnosed with diadonal ulcers. His condition worsened on Thursday when he suffered a major cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma. He was then put on a ventilator but he did not recover consciousness, according to Dr B.K. Goyal who attended on him.
Dr Goyal said Dr Ramanna was afflicted with heart problems for the past 15 years and had undergone a bypass surgery and angioplasty.
A resident of Bangalore, Dr Ramanna was in Mumbai to attend the annual general body meeting of Crest Communications of which he was the Chairman. He had handed over charge to his son, Shyam, only on Monday. The company had also changed its name to Crest Animation Studio
due to the nature of its business. In his last years, Dr Ramanna had developed varied interests, including conservation of heritage. Acording to reports available here, Dr Ramanna was working on preserving the heritage of Mysore. He was also on the Board of Advisers for the Academy of Sanskrit Research, Melkote.
He had close association with inner circles of the Mysore Palace during its heydays and also the Mysore Music Association.
He had visited Mysore some months ago when he delivered a talk at Dhvanyaloka on the merits of exploiting nuclear power for economic progress of India.
BANGALORE: The local National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) mourned the death of Dr Raja Ramanna in Mumbai early on Friday.
Dr Raja Ramanna was NIAS’ founder Director, the man identified by J.R.D. Tata 15 years ago as the right person to nurture a fledgling institute. Even after handing over its directorship in 1997 to Prof Roddam Narasimha, Dr Ramanna would continue to visit and participate in the institute’s activities.
A condolence meeting was held where the current NIAS Director, Dr K. Kasturirangan, and others recalled Dr Ramanna’s contributions and their interactions with him.
“He was a man of firm decisions,” says S. Rajagopal, who was Secretary, Atomic Energy Commission and Controller, BARC, and also worked with him on strategic studies in the NIAS.
“His greatest contribution was to the security of this nation,” he adds. “Even after handing over his chairmanship of the Atomic Energy Commission, he kept a close watch, and was always consulted.
