Padma Shri Awardee (for Education) and former Provincial of the Goa Province, Fr. Romuald D’Souza, returned to his Creator on 1 November 2019, after decades of dedicated service to society. A trained clinical psychologist and a visionary educationist, he blazed new trails in promoting social concern and in forming men and women for others, committed to a more just and equitable society.
Born in Aldona, Goa, on 20 December 1925, Fr Romuald joined the Society of Jesus, on 1 July 1945. His ecclesial studies took him to various countries. He was a patient listener, inviting the confidence of everyone, showing great leadership qualities, and it was no surprise when, in 1973, he was appointed Provincial of the then Goa-Pune Province.
Fr. Romuald’s crowning achievements during the last four decades were the educational institutes he founded and directed; he was always a builder, not just of campuses, but of the people within them. Fr. Romauld had served as Principal of St Vincent’s High School, Pune, and, in 1982, rose to the challenge of leading XLRI Jamshedpur through difficult waters. He not only turned it around but raised it to rank among the nation’s top management institutes. Much impressed, the Orissa government persuaded him to start XIM Bhubaneswar (1987), where he remained as Founder-Director until 1993.
He taught that age is, to a large extent, a quality of the mind; that one is only old when one has left one’s dreams. Returning to Goa at the age of 70, he planted a seed which today towers in the field of management education: the Goa Institute of Management.
Thank you Fr. Romuald, for all that you were to us, helping us to dream big, to have vision, to work with passion to accomplish our mission of a better and more educated society.
- Lawry Trinidade, SJ
