Durban - Businessman Rajen Reddy was planning for his retirement. He also intended travelling to Dubai with his wife of 37 years, Esayvanie Reddy. But on Thursday, Reddy, 58, the owner of KZN Oils, died in hospital.
Esayvanie said Reddy was hospitalised for a month and died from a heart condition.
“It's not easy,” she told the POST on Monday.
“Today, we conducted his fifth-day death prayer. We have a prayer every second day. I cannot believe he is gone. I never believed I would live to see a day where my husband is not around with me.”
Esayvanie said she and Reddy were high-school sweethearts and knew each other for 44 years.
“From Grade 9 right up until our final year, Rajen and I sat next to each other in class. We decided in our Grade 11 year that we were a couple. We went to our matric dance together, we completed school together, and we decided when we were in our twenties that we were going to get married.”
Esayvanie said her husband was dynamic, intelligent and kind.
“He was the person to find a solution to a tough situation. He had a wonderful wit and he was kind. Rajen said he would retire by 55 but he didn't. So he said in two years when he turned 60 he would. We were looking forward to this time as he wanted to travel but things always came up so we didn't really get to do much travelling."
Esayvanie said their three granddaughters were the love of Reddy’s life.
“His face lit up whenever he saw them. They miss him dearly.”
KZN Oils supplies lubricants and fuel to Transnet's port operations. Reddy also owned 30 petrol stations and was a major fuel distributor for Chevron/Caltex garages in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
He is survived by his wife and children Venisha, Kerushin and Kreeshan.
Palesa Phili, Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive, said: “Mr Reddy was an exemplary business leader, a long-standing member of the Durban Chamber, a job creator and a prolific contributor to the broader business community. His passing is a major loss for our city and province, and he will be greatly missed.”
Thandwa Mthembu, the vice-chancellor of the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and principal professor, said: “What devastating news to lose one of our strongest supporters and such an ardent member of our DUT Foundation. He had so much love for DUT even though, as he once told me, he had received no university education in his youth.
“There are very few people like him in the world, even from those who are well educated, who fully understand the value and agency of university education. There are very few who, on understanding the value and agency, put their money selflessly where their convictions are. Rajen did all that without flinching.”
Reddy was cremated on Sunday at the Clare Estate Crematorium.
The Post