‘Ratan Tata was my mother’s favourite— Hands down,’ says sister Shireen Jejeebhoy

“We were very close," his half-sister Shireen Jejeebhoy told Mint. “He (Ratan Tata) was always supportive, played jokes on us, and at times looked to us for support. We had a deep love and respect for each other. Ratan has given us a lot of love and support. He was my mother’s favourite—hands down."

Shireen and Tata’s other half-sister Deanna have expressed distress about the split among trustees of Tata Trusts, leading to the removal of Mehli Mistry.

Family roots

Ratan Tata, 86, who died on 9 October last year, did not marry. He is survived by his brother, Jimmy, and half-sisters Shireen, 73, and Deanna, 72, as well as half-brother Noel, who turns 68 in December.

Ratan Tata and Jimmy Tata were born to Naval Tata and Soonoo Comissariat. Their mother later married Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and had three daughters: Shireen, Deanna, and Geeta Jejeebhoy.

Noel Tata, the current chair of the Tata Trusts, is the son of Naval Tata from his second marriage to Simone Dunoyer.

Geeta Jejeebhoy, who had Down syndrome, died many years ago.

Shireen is a demographer, social scientist and the founder of the Aksha Centre for Equity and Wellbeing, a Mumbai-based non-profit that works on women's empowerment and gender equality. She previously worked at the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai and the World Health Organisation.

Shireen completed her bachelor’s degree in sociology at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, in 1973, and earned her doctoral degree in demography from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.

Not much could be ascertained about Deanna beyond the fact that she works with non-government organisations, focusing on providing shelter and care for the poor elderly. For over two decades, much of her work focused on people with Down syndrome, autism, and mild spastic conditions. Between 1994 and 2001, she also served as a program advisor at the Sri Ratan Tata Trust, one of the principal philanthropic entities of Tata Trusts.

Ratan Tata entrusted Shireen, Deanna, along with his close confidant Mehli Mistry, and Darius Khambata, a lawyer and a trustee of Tata Trusts, as the executors of his will.

In Mint’s interaction with Shireen and Deanna, it became clear that Ratan Tata had never been supportive of family members serving on the board of the Tata Trusts.

“He (Ratan) never did," said Deanna, when asked if he had asked them to join the Tata Trusts. “He took great care to ensure his decisions were never influenced by personal relationships. I was once associated with the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust many years ago. It was not Ratan who appointed me. Rather, it was Jamshed Bhabha who insisted. He said, ‘I’m the chairman, and you should join’. I said Ratan may not like that. ‘No’, Mr Bhabha said. ‘I’m the chairman, and I want you to join.’"

Shireen and Deanna, in a joint tribute in the November 2024 edition of Horizons, the in-house magazine of the Tata Trusts, wrote that Rata Tata took “great pride in doing the right thing" and this extended "into his personal life".

Like Ratan Tata and his half-brother, Jimmy Tata, Shireen and Deanna did not marry. And like their half-brother, both sisters are dog lovers and even took one of Ratan Tata’s closest companions.

“He (Ratan) had these two puppies, Tito and Tango," recounted Shireen. “They were adorable together as little ones, but once they turned about a year old, they started having these terrible fights. He tried everything — even brought in a dog therapist, tried different approaches — but nothing worked. Eventually, he was told the only real solution was to separate them, which he couldn’t bear," said Shireen.

“Around the same time, our dog died. He requested we adopt Tango, which we did. Tango has been a treasure to us ever since."