CHENNAI: Saroj Goenka, daughter-in-law of the legendary media baron Ramnath Goenka, passed away at her home in Chennai on Friday. Her youngest daughter Kavita Singhania was by her side when the end came at 11.30 am. She was 95.
Saroj is the daughter of Shreyans Prasad Jain, after whom the SP Jain College in Mumbai is named. She was cremated at 5.30 pm at the Besant Nagar electrical crematorium. A condolence meeting will be held on Sunday between 2 pm and 4 pm at her Express Estate residence.
Born on August 29, 1929, Saroj married Ramnath Goenka’s son Bhagwan Das Goenka. After the untimely demise of her spouse in 1979, she took over as the managing director of The Indian Express (Madurai) Ltd, a position she held till 1995. She was president of Indian Newspaper Society in 1984-85.
Saroj later became chairperson of Express Infrastructure Ltd, which runs the tony Express Avenue mall on Mount Road. On August 30, 2010, the then chief minister M Karunanidhi inaugurated Express Avenue. “Express Avenue is like a crowning memorial for the services rendered by Ramnath Goenka, the doyen of Indian journalism,’’ Karunanidhi said while speaking on the occasion.
Affectionately called Amma, Saroj was well known for her charitable activities like running an orphanage, the Daya Sadan Childrens Town at Nerkundram in the city. For a long time, she made weekly visits to Daya Sadan on Saturdays to personally oversee its functioning.
She also ran the Moongibai Goenka Girls Higher Secondary School at Sowcarpet in Chennai. Named after her mother-in-law, the school was started in 1949. Saroj is survived by three daughters, Arati Agarwal, Ritu Goenka, and Kavita Singhania.
Condoling the demise, Sudha Ravi, a long-time friend of Saroj, recalled that she was a good student of Vedanta under Swami Paramarthananda. She used to attend the Swamiji’s classes regularly and completed the study of many Upanishads and Vedantic texts, she said.
Sudha is a trustee of the Gandhigram Khadi and Village Industries Public Charitable Trust. She said that Saroj was a great supporter of the Crafts Council of India. “She was a wonderful human being — very kind, very warm,” Sudha reminisced.