‘IG was very generous with his time, energy’

Vadodara-based Patel was to return in June but was forced to alter his plans following the illness, the sources said.

Besides being the RBI Governor from 1977-82, Patel was also Chief Economic Advisor at the Centre, Economic Secretary and Director, IIM-Ahmedabad. He headed the London School of Economics for seven years, from 1984, and was associated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But Patel’s friends in Vadodara residents recalled how he returned after breaking all records for his PhD at Cambridge to take charge as the principal of Baroda College—later, M S University.

Said Manu Shroff, economist and friend of Patel since 1957: ‘‘It’s a terrible loss to the nation. I could not have imagined this. He was the pillar of the Indian economy through the fifties, sixties, and seventies.’’

Said Lord Bhikhu Parekh, former vice-chancellor of MS University: ‘‘He was very generous with his time and energy even at this age. The political life of India and civic life of Vadodara has been left poorer with his demise,’’ Parekh said about the man who was known as ‘‘IG’’.