Milkman Verghese Kurien dies today after prolonged illness

AHMEDABAD: Milkman Verghese Kurien who created country's most respected brand Amul passed away after prolonged illness on Sunday after prolonged illness. He was 90 and survived by his wife Molly and daughter Nirmala. Kurien was spending his life in Anand after he resigned from all the institutions he promoted by 2007.

Kurien built institutions like National Dairy Development Board, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF), National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India Limited, Institute of Agriculture Anand, Indian Dairy Corporation and many more. Today, close to 31 lakh farmers are members of GCMMF affiliated district union and supply an average of 100 lakh litre of liquid milk to Amul Group.

"With great sadness I convey the demise of the legendary Dr V Kurien early this morning at 1.15 am at the Nadiad Kidney Hospital). He was 90 years old. He was hospitalized last week due to ailments related to old age," said Muljibhai Patel Society for Research in Nephro-Urology's officer on special duty PA Joseph who also served as an executive assistant to Kurien.

Kurien returned India in 1948 after his post graduation in science of mechanical engineering from Michigan State University. However, he came to Anand to look after a government's dairy project to supply milk to Mumbai.

Here, he ended up supporting dairy cooperatives founded by farmer leader Tribhuvandas Patel and stayed back in Anand by denying lucrative offers elsewhere. He did not take any salary from any of the institutions after he turned 60 year old. Kurien had to resign from GCMMF chairmanship due to power struggle within the board in 2006.

In 2001, ET awarded him lifetime achievement award along with Dhirubhai Ambani. Besides numerous awards, Kurien also received at least a dozen honorary degrees by some of the leading institutes of the world. The government honoured Kurien with Padmashri (1965), Padmabhushan (1966) and Padma Vibhushan (1999). He also received Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963) and World Food Prize (1989).

Kurien was also a noted communicator. He played key role in production of movies Manthan, Sardar and Mamuliram besides several television shows including Surabhi for Doordarshan. Amul's outdoor campaign is believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Kurien also inked is memoirs under the title of 'I too had a dream'.