Neville Ness Wadia was a British businessman, philanthropist and a member of the Wadia family, an old Parsi family which, by the 1840s, was one of the leading forces in the Indian shipbuilding industry.
13 Facts About Neville Wadia
Neville Wadia was the grandson of Nowrosjee Wadia and Bai Jerbai.
Neville Wadia married Dina, the only child of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and his wife Rattanbai Petit, in 1938.
The wedding was largely criticized due to being an inter-faith marriage, Dina belonged to a Muslim faith, and Neville Wadia was a Parsi.
Neville Wadia was raised as a Christian but he later converted from Christianity to Zoroastrianism.
In 1933, Neville Wadia was unceremoniously thrown into Bombay Dyeing by his father where he started working as a supervisor for loading of cotton bales on to trucks which was the most junior level in each department.
Neville Wadia was paid no salary and given only a meagre allowance befitting a lowly employee.
In 1952, Neville Wadia succeeded his father as chairman of Bombay Dyeing, and under his leadership the company became one of India's most successful and quality-conscious textile concerns.
Neville Wadia founded the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, which he headed for 12 years.
Neville Wadia was heavily involved in the real estate business in Mumbai, and he contributed to building new wings and upgrading several hospitals in Bombay founded by his family.
Neville Wadia established a business school named as Modern Education Society's Neville Wadia Institute of Management studies and Research in Pune and a host of charitable trusts for Parsees.
In 1971, Neville decided to sell the company to R P Goenka as it was failing and had plans to settle abroad.
Neville Wadia died in Mumbai three weeks before his 85th birthday.