The Cowasjee family is one of the oldest families settled in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Sindh,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. They owned the East & West Steamship Company, the oldest shipping company in Pakistan, established in 1883.

Background

The Cowasjees are a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

family. Till his death on 24 November 2012, Veteran newspaper columnist

Ardeshir Cowasjee Ardeshir Cowasjee (13 April 1926 – 24 November 2012) ( ur, ) was a Pakistani newspaper columnist, social activist, and philanthropist. Belonging from Karachi, his columns regularly appeared in the country's oldest English newspaper, ''D ...

was the chairman of the group and patriarch of the family. Ardeshir Cowasjee was also known as a philanthropist, social activist and a businessman. Some charities Ardeshir donated to are

The Citizens Foundation The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is a non-profit organization, and one of the largest privately owned networks of low-cost formal schools in Pakistan. The foundation operates a network of 1,833 school units, educating 280,000 students through over 13, ...

affiliated TCF school in

Lyari Lyari (Urdu: ; sd, لیاري) is a historic locality in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the most densely-populated part of Karachi, and is one of its earliest settled areas.Sarwat Viqar (2014) Constructing Lyari: place, governance and identity in a Kar ...

Lady Dufferin Hospital Lady Dufferin Hospital is located in Karachi, Sindh. The hospital, which was completed in 1898, was named after the British peeress Lady Dufferin. Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, gave birth to a son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari ...

Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation The Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT) is a dialysis & kidney transplant centre located in Pakistan. SIUT was founded by Dr. Adibul Hasan Rizvi and it is Pakistan's largest kidney disease center, as well as Pakistan's largest ...

(SIUT) and

National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD); ( ur, نيشنل انسٹيٹيوٹ آف كارڈيو ويسكيولر ڈيزيزز) in collaboration with the Government of Sindh are a chain of health care centers located in Sindh, Pakis ...

(NICD) all in greater Karachi area.

References

{{reflist Pakistani families Pakistani business families Parsi people

Background

See also

References