CUTTACK: Noted lawyer, entrepreneur and close associate of the former chief minister late Biju Patnaik, Kamini Kanta Patnaik passed away following a prolonged illness at Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar, on Monday. He was 91 and is survived by two daughters. His wife and only son have predeceased him. Born on March 1, 1921, at Morada in the erstwhile Mayurbhanj princely state, Patnaik graduated from Ravenshaw College and pursued a career in law. Specialising in tax and company law, he started practice in the Orissa High Court and subsequently went on to the Kolkata High Court and Supreme Court. As an associate of Biju, he became the Director of Kalinga Airlines Pvt Limited, Kalinga Industries Limited, Kalinga Svenska Ltd and then Kalinga Tubes, all established by the former. He then went on to join the B Patnaik Mines Pvt Ltd as Director. He was appointed legal advisor to various multinational companies during his active professional career. As Chairman of the Nabajyoti Charitable Trust, Patnaik started the first-ever private engineering college of the State and the neighbouring ones, Orissa Engineering College in 1986. He followed it up by establishing a Centre of Management Studies under OEC. He was also the Managing Trustee of the Kalinga Foundation Trust, instituted by Biju Patnaik, which awards the prestigious Kalinga Prize for popularisation of science. Closely associated with social service organisations and sports, he was vice- president of the Orissa Olympic Association, vice-president of Orissa Football Association and continued as the president of Orissa State Cycling Association. His entrepreneurship extended to industrial research under Kalinga Institute of Technology. He also set up a seafood export company KK Patnaik and Co. His body was brought to his Tulasipur residence here before being taken to OEC and then to Puri for funeral rites.
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