CK Menon, an expat Indian industrialist and philanthropist who spent half of his life in Qatar died at Apollo hospital in Chennai, aged 70.
In an eventful life, he built businesses spanning from transport to real estate to restaurants, employing many in the process.
Away from the limelight, he generously donated, gave away, lent money to various causes and many struggling expatriates.
For over 35 years, he’s been involved in an array of businesses across the GCC states, UK, Sudan, and South America.
At the time of his death, Menon was the chairman and managing director of Behzad Group of Companies, of Doha, according to his personal website.
The group mainly does fuel transportation by land and sea. Steel manufacturing, marketing of engineering machinery and equipment and distribution of car accessories also were the activities.
Menon was conferred with various Indian government awards such as Padma shri and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman for his services.
Born to Puliyamkott Narayanan Nair and Cheril Karthyayani Amma in 1949 in Kerala's Thrissur, Cheril Krishna Menon had his early education in CMS School, St Thomas College and Sree Kerala Varma College.
His father was a fleet operator, owning more than 20 private buses bearing the name ‘Sree Ramajayam,’ the website says.
Menon went on to graduate in law from Jabalpur and practiced in Kerala High Court for two years. Then he moved to Qatar in the mid-‘70s.
In the last decade, he created a wave of sort by building a mosque in Mokeri, in the district of Kannur in Kerala.
In 2012, Doha International Center for Inter-faith Dialogue gave him a special award.
