Tributes pour in for eminent advertising and theatre personality Burjor Patel

Tributes poured in for the late stalwart from heads of top advertising agencies and business leaders in the UAE, who closely interacted with Patel during his 20-year tenure in KT and before.

Mohan Nambiar, the CEO of Radix Media, said, “I’ve known Burjor from his Mumbai days. I continued to work with him after I moved here. It was a great learning and fun experience working with Burjor. I remember he and Ruby would come to my house for Kerala festival Onam, and we would have a feast on banana leaves.”

Nambiar said, “We shared a relationship of mutual respect. You could go to Burjor with any problem, and he would resolve it. He was a great human, an amazing person, and you could learn a lot from conversations with him. He lived his life to the fullest, though the demise of his wife left him shattered. After which, we saw a side of Burjor never seen before.”

Satish Mayya, the CEO of BPG Group, also knew Burjor from his days at the Statesmen. “He was the go-to person in KT and had a solution for every problem. We stayed in touch even after he left KT and was very keen to learn about the state of the print industry in the region. He believed the so-called dying print industry could be revived and would keep track of market trends very often.”

Ali Asgar Mir, managing director of Iasmedia and Ikon Advertising Media, said, “Patel was a wonderful man with great talents. He was a great advertising person, a great human being, and a great actor; he brought some of the best plays to Dubai. Before he brought them, no one knew much about it in this part of the world.”

He added, “It was a great loss for KT when he left and returned to India. He leaves an unparalleled legacy. We remained in touch over email. He always sent us Eid greetings and I would wish him during the Parsi New Year.” Ali Mir said UAE lost two greats in two days.

Reghu Menon, the managing director of Publilink, said, “I used to go to his office at least once a month when he was working with Khaleej Times. His mannerisms and sense of humour were so unique. He would offer a solution to every problem we had. When he was with the newspaper, KT was like my home. The relationship never changed even after his departure.”

Menon said, “Two great veterans have left us in two days, unfortunately. Yesterday it was Tanvir, and today Burjor. It is indeed a sorrowful time for the advertising industry.”

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