Vanita Jashanmal, the wife of prominent Indian businessman Mohan Jashanmal, died in Mumbai on Saturday, August 12.
A condolence meeting will be held in Abu Dhabi, the family said.
Jashanmal died peacefully in her family home in Mumbai, aged 78. She leaves behind three children and seven grandchildren.
She first arrived in Abu Dhabi after marriage in 1964.
“We been together for 53 years. We are both 78. She has been with me all long and participated with me through everything,” said Mr Jashanmal who is in Mumbai.
“She passed away very peacefully. That’s something she always wanted. She always used to tell me, ‘Mohan you don’t die before me because I will not know what to do. I want to die before you so you can take care of it.’ And that is what happened.”
His favourite memories of his wife is when she painted their home in Abu Dhabi.
“What mattered to her most were her children and grandchildren and the attention she paid to the family. But she was also 100 per cent an artist. She was always involved in art.”
Her children remember a mother who was 'her own person,' and an intellectual who enjoyed politics.
In two years, the Jashanmal Group will have been established in the GCC for 100 years. The family has retail operations in fashion, home appliances, travel, publishing and footwear.
Mr Jashanmal’s father started the business with the family’s first shop in Iraq in 1919, followed by outlets in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The first store in Dubai was opened in 1954 followed by Abu Dhabi in 1957.
