Biocon executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw paid an emotional tribute to her husband and Biocon’s Non-Executive Director John Shaw, who passed away on Monday aged 73. He was undergoing treatment for cancer in a Bengaluru hospital.
Remembering him as her “mentor and soul mate”, Mazumdar-Shaw said that she will always be spiritually guided by John. “I am devastated to lose my husband, my mentor and soul mate. I will always be spiritually guided by John as I pursue my purpose. Rest in Peace my darling John,” the Biocon executive chairperson tweeted along with an old picture of the couple.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and John Shaw were married for over two decades and had tied the knot in 1998.
A Scotsman and Indophile, John Shaw headed textile manufacturer Madhura Coats before joining Biocon in 1999 where he served as the vice chairman and non-executive director for over 22 years, before retiring in July 2021.
He had also served as a foreign promoter and member of the advisory board of various Biocon Group companies. He was also the former managing director of Viyella Group. Mazumdar-Shaw’s late husband had an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow, the same institution from where he pursued his Masters of Arts (MA) in history and political economy.
He contributed majorly to the transformation of Biocon from a small enzymes company to a globally recognised biopharmaceutical firm and played an important role in ensuring the highest levels of corporate governance in the company, as well as, in the financial and strategic development of the group.
Meanwhile, 69-year-old Mazumdar-Shaw lost her entrepreneur-mother Yamini Mazumdar to cancer in June.
