Dr John Matthai was born in Calicut on 10th Jan, 1886. He was married to Achamma and had three children, Valsa, Duleep and Ravi. He graduated from Madras Christian College and later went on to Oxford. He was an educationist, economist and prominent member of the Government of India and in the corporate world during the 1940s and 1950s.
 
He started his career as a lawyer and subsequently became a Member and later, The Chairman of the Tariff Board in 1925. He was appointed Director General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.
 
He later became a member of the Legislative Council in Madras. He was also appointed by the Viceroy of India in the Interim Cabinet of India as The Finance Minister. He was appointed as the first Railway Minister after independence and subsequently Finance Minister.
 
He was the first Chairman of The State Bank of India & Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University and Bombay University. He was also The Founding Chairman of the Administrative Staff College of India in Hyderabad and President of NCAER and The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
 
He was appointed as a chairman of the Taxation Enquiry Committee.
He joined The House of Tatas in the early 1940s and continued till the late 1950s. He was director in-charge setting-up Tata Chemicals Ltd. He was appointed Vice Chairman of TISCO and TELCO and Chairman of the Sir Dorab Tata Trust, Tata Memorial Trust and the TIFR. He was a director of Tata Industries and Tata Sons.
 
He was actively involved with the YMCA. He was awarded Three Gold medal by The Madras Christian College and The British India Government conferred upon him the CIE in 1934.He was also awarded the Padma Vibhusan (2nd Highest Civil award of The Government of India) in 1959.
 
Dr John Matthai passed away in Bombay on 2nd Nov, 1959.
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