Saturday 30th August 2008 : Krishna Kumar Birla died at his birla park residence.He was 90

olkata, Aug 30 (IANS) Eminent industrialist K.K. Birla died at his Birla Park residence here Saturday morning after a brief illness. He was 90 years old.

A spokesman for the family said Birla, the chairman of the Hindustan Times and several companies, died at about 7.30 a.m. His wife Manorama Devi Birla had died about a month ago. Birla is survived by three daughters - Nandini Nupani, Saroj Potddar and Shobhana Bhartia, who is vice chairperson and editorial adviser of Hindustan Times.

KK Birla, noted industrialist and former Rajya Sabha member died this morning at his residence Birla Park here after a brief illness. He was 90. The Chairman of Hindustan Times and several Birla group of industries is survived by three daughters Nandini Nupani, Shobhana Bhartia, who is vice chairperson and editorial adviser of Hindustan Times and Jyoti Potddar.

Birla was ailing for the last two weeks and the end came at 7.30 am, family members said. His wife Manorama Devi Birla died about a month ago.

Son of Ghanshyam Das Birla, Krishna Kumar Birla was born in Pilani, Rajasthan, on 12th October 1918. He was amongst the founder members of the Indian sugar industry which he joined in 1940.

He was responsible for expansion of the Birla Institute of Technology Pilani, to Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad.

Birla had established one of India's biggest business conglomerates and his industrial empire spans key industries like sugar, fertilizers, chemicals, heavy engineering, textile, shipping, newspaper, etc. .. He was a respected parliamentarian, socialite, p hilanthropist and scholar apart from being an industrialist.

KK Birla Informations

Birla was a Rajya Sabha MP for 18 consecutive years. In 1961, he was elected sheriff of Calcutta and in 1997, he was conferred Doctor of Letters by Pondicherry University. He had headed the Indian Sugar Mills Association, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) among others.

He established the KK Birla Foundation which has instituted annual awards for excellence in Indian literature, scientific research and Indian philosophy. -- PTI

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