NAGPUR: Sumant Tekade, 38, popular for his inspirational lectures, died due to Covid on Saturday morning. He was admitted to Aureus Hospital on April 12 after testing positive. Tekade is survived by his wife Madhavi, a daughter (10) and a son (7).
A highly-qualified management professional, Tekade was known for speaking on the relevance of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s life in today’s scenario. He had a huge fan-following, mostly youngsters.
Tekade was a rare orator from Maharashtra who used to explain
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Hindi and English with equal eloquence. He completed his postgraduate studies in management from Bangaluru. Later, he worked in Wipro’s human resource division.
He did his PhD in management and then joined SB Jain College as head of the department, management. However, Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj and his management skills always fascinated him. He quit his job to become a full-time motivational speaker. He intended to publish a book and a collection of articles soon.
He was the son of Dattaji Tekade, a former teacher of Navayug Vidyalaya and ex-official of Dharampeth Educational Society.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari, former CM Devendra Fadnavis, ex-mayor Sandip Joshi, MLC Abhijit Wanjari, MLA Vikas Thakre and renowned names from the field of art, literature, culture and education paid glowing tributes to Tekade.
“Sumant, how can you exit like this? You always used to motivate people by telling them to live like Shivaji Maharaj. Time is really ruthless and Corona is more ruthless than that,” tweeted Sandip Joshi.
“I’m shocked, speechless and sad. Sumantji had delivered a fascinating lecture at our university. A few days ago, we had a discussion about his book. His untimely demise is a great loss to society,” said Dr Shrinivas Warkhedi, vice-chancellor of KKSU.