A close friend remembers the last British Chairman of Shaw Wallace.

The news of Tony Hayward's death in Sandwich, Kent, UK, on March 4 has been received with shock and much sadness by his large network of those who were associated with him professionally and personally.

His end was peaceful, although he went through a brief period of serious illness which he faced courageously and stoically.

Sir Anthony Hayward was knighted by the Queen of England in 1978 for his services to the British commercial interests in India. It was my privilege to know him and the family and work with him for four decades in India and abroad.

Tony and Jenifer met in Kolkata in 1953, a few years after he came to India to join his father's business, Bengal Distilleries. Jenifer was already in Kolkata where her father was a popular physician.

They married in 1955 and their family now includes four grown-up children and their extended families. The Hayward children have also been bitten by the India bug and two of them live in Goa.

Hayward joined Shaw Wallace with his father's business and grew in the new hierarchy to eventually become Chairman of one of the most successful business houses in India. He was also President of Assocham. He navigated the company over very difficult political, economic and bureaucratic hurdles in the 1970s and the company grew substantially.

He retired from Shaw Wallace and India in 1978

Tony and Jenifer represented that slice of the Raj that genuinely loved India and Indians. They were generous and hospitable at every level of society. They were benevolent and concerned.

I am one of many who will miss Tony and his annual visits to India. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hayward family in these harrowing days.

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