Jagdish Gandhi, the founder of City Montessori Schools (CMS), the largest chain of schools in Lucknow, died in the state capital on Monday morning. He was 87.
Gandhi, who was undergoing treatment at a hospital for the last 25 days, is survived by his wife and four children. There are 21 City Montessori Schools in the city.
A native of Aligarh and a former president of the Lucknow University Student’s Union, Gandhi was elected as an independent MLA from 1969 to 1974 but gave up politics to focus on the education sector.
In a press release, the CMS management said, “Gandhi’s conception of education is wedded to academic excellence. He organised 20 international events for students every year to promote cross-cultural understanding, and also held an annual conference of Chief Justices of the World to build a climate of opinion for a world governance structure,” it added.
“He believed in fostering the vision of inter-religious harmony, and ‘vasudhaiv kutumbkam’ (the world is one family). This commitment led to CMS being awarded the prestigious UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 2002,” added the release.
