IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services announced last week that its first CEO, Faqir Chand Kohli, passed away. The company described Kohli as the father of the Indian IT industry.

Kohli joined the company in 1969, pivoting first into management consultancy then into software development. He stepped down as CEO in 1996. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor given for “distinguished service of a high order ... without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex.”

“I am deeply saddened by the news that Mr. FC Kohli passed away this afternoon. He was a true legend, who laid the very foundations for India’s spectacular IT revolution and set the stage for the dynamic modern economy we enjoy today,” N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, said in a statement last week. “Mr. Kohli led innovations in areas far-ranging from adult literacy, water purification, software engineering, software automation, complex-systems and cybernetics.”

“Mr Faqir Chand Kohli was a true visionary, showing amazing foresight in harnessing the rich engineering talent available in India to create an entire new industry that defied all odds and grew to be a global powerhouse,” said Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services.