KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines first chairman Tan Sri G.K. Rama Iyer died at his home in Taman Ampang Utama, today.
His son Srihari said his father who had just turned 88 on March 13, died at about 8am.
Rama Iyer leaves behind wife Puan Sri Vijayalakshmi Rama Iyer, daughters Lavanya and Soumya, and sons Srihari and Badhri.
Srihari said the cortege would leave the house at 11am on Thursday for cremation at the Jalan Kuari Municipal crematorium in Cheras at noon.
Rama Iyer was born in Penang and joined the civil service in 1955, rising to secretary-general of three ministries: Planning and Socio-Economic Research; Works and Public Utilities; and Primary Industries.
In November 1968, he helped establish the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation and later Malaysian Airline System (MAS) where he served as its first chairman for three years from 1971.
He was also instrumental in setting up the Public Complaints Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Department.
After the civil service, Rama Iyer was roped in by the government to serve MAS following the split of Malaysian-Singapore Airlines (MSA) in 1971.
MSA was originally known as Malayan Airways in 1947, then renamed Malaysian Airways after Merdeka, and Malaysia-Singapore Airline in 1965 when Singapore joined the federation in 1963.
Rama Iyer served alongside the likes of MAS’ first general manager the late Tan Sri Saw Huat Lye; the late Tan Sri Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman who served as its first chief executive officer and managing director; and the country’s first Royal Malaysian Air Force chief, Air-Vice-Marshal (Rtd) Tan Sri Sulaiman Sujak who was appointed MAS deputy chairman.
Rama Iyer’s father was V.K. Ganapathy Iyer, a teacher at Penang Free School, where Rama Iyer studied.
Rama Iyer was related to the late Toh Puan Umasundari Sambanthan, through his wife who is her first cousin. Uma’s husband was Tun V.T. Sambanthan who was one of the founding fathers of Malaysia as a Cabinet minister and president of the Malaysian Indian Congress.
He is also related to Huzir Sulaiman, an acclaimed Malaysian theatre personality.
Huzir’s father is prominent lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah @ G. Srinivasan Iyer, who is Rama Iyer’s brother.