Late S Vaidyanathan [Class of 1992, IIM, Bangalore]

Vaidy co-founded TGF [named after his mother, Ganga] with his close friends Elango and Nath, in 2009. As someone who suffered a spinal cord injury [SCI] in 1990 while as student at IIM, Bangalore, Vaidy had access to top-quality rehabilitation at CMC, Vellore, where he was under the care of Dr Suranjan Bhattacharji, the inspiration for TGF to take shape.

Vaidy’s injury did not deter him from living life to the fullest – post his injury, he had long stints with both The Hindu Business Line and Sundaram Asset Management Company. In 2013, Vaidy quit his corporate career to focus full time on the work of the Foundation on a purely voluntary basis – he was its chef ideator, thought leader and its prime mover, driven by his single-minded obsession to make a meaningful difference to the lives of persons with SCI.

In recognition of his outstanding accomplishments, his alma mater IIM, Bangalore, conferred upon him the honour of Distinguished Alumnus in 2018. He continued to make giant strides in the arena of SCI thereafter, until he was cruelly snatched away from us in May 2021 on account of complication arising from COVID-19.

In his memory and as a tribute to his vision of wanting to make life better for persons with SCI, the work of TGF is kept alive by the co-founders, along with a group of highly independent and trained associates [almost all of whom are persons with SCI], with the intent of ensuring that disability does not equate to disadvantage.

Read a piece here on Vaidy authored by Rohini Rathour, his batchmate from IIM, Bangalore.

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