Celebrating the life of Gouranga Chattopadhyay

Gouranga Chattopadhyay, GC as many of us fondly called him, passed away on 13th August 2026 at his home in Kolkata. He was 95. Through this page, we raise a toast to you GC, with deep love and gratitude, and countless memories. We will miss you more than we will ever know.

Gouranga brought Group Relations to India in 1973. GC gave us the gift of Group Relations, but more importantly transmitted to us the love for GR. He was a friend to all, enthralled us with his vivid stories, adventurous experiences of every hue, and his zest for life. A teacher, an academic and practitioner in management education, behavioural science and group relations in particular, a prolific writer and poet, a person of deep political principles, a committed practitioner of yoga and spirituality, a bengali at heart and global in spirit, it is impossible to enumerate the many facets  and contributions of Gouranga. This tribute to GC in The Telegraph captures his journey and his many contributions.

GC shared his journey with group relations from the early 70’s as part of a session in the first edition of Koodam in 2018. Some of us who had the good fortune of working with him, and knowing him closely for decades, can say with confidence that our greatest tribute to him is to live GR, as he did.

We invite you to post a comment with your experience of knowing GC and the imprints this association has left on you.

‍Please note that you will be asked to share your name, email ID and you may then post as a guest. Comments are moderated. Should you run into any difficulties, please send your message to office@grouprelationsindia.org, and we will post on your behalf. In case you would like to share some pictures of GC from your personal collection, we would be happy to receive them from you.