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Speaking of his personal life, Dorabji had once gone to Mysore for some work related to IISc and met Dr Hormusji Bhabha, the first Indian InspectorGeneral of Education of Mysore state. We are not sure whether the task for which he had gone was accomplished or not, but we know that Dorabji married Bhabha’s daughter, Meherbai, in 1897, at the age of thirty-eight.

Unlike most girls of her time, Meherbai had no interest in being stuck in the kitchen or managing household chores, and was an excellent tennis player to boot. She would take up issues on behalf of other women and be supported wholeheartedly by Dorabji. She died of leukemia in June 1931 in England. Dorabji ensured that his own burial place was booked next to her grave. And since there were no facilities for treating cancer patients in India, he set up the Lady Tata Memorial Trust, putting in ` 75 lakh of his personal money. The whole idea was to utilize these funds for cancer research and help needy patients.

Dorabji wanted to set up a facility of international standards for the treatment of cancer in India, but he passed away before this dream could be fulfilled. As a tribute to him, his successor and cousin, Nowroji Saklatwala, Chairman of the Tata group from 1932 to 1938, took up the work of setting up the Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel, Bombay. Established in 1941, the hospital had all the facilities for treatment, surgery and post-surgical recuperative care. The best of doctors in Bombay were sent abroad on scholarships for training in the treatment and care of cancer patients.

Excerpted from Pg 43-44 of Tatas: How a family built a business and a nation by Girish Kuber