Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.Photo:HANDOUT/DAWOOD HERCULES CORPORATION/AFP
HANDOUT/DAWOOD HERCULES CORPORATION/AFP
Shahzada Dawood, the philanthropist and businessman whodied in theTitansubmersible, is being remembered as a “free spirit” who wanted to make the world “a better place.”
“Shahzada cared passionately about philanthropy. But not as much as he cared about his own family,” Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of theBritish Asian Trust(BAT), tells PEOPLE.
‘Titan’ sub victims Hamish Harding; Stockton Rush; Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Suleman Dawood; Shahzada Dawood.JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images
JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images
“Shahzada was definitely somebody who had that sort of free spirit, and that desire to find out more about the world and explore the world," Hawkes continues. “So it was always fascinating the kind of things that you could talk to him about and the kind of things that he’d said he was interested in doing.”
“The whole family is absolutely incredible," Hawkes adds about Dawood’s relationship with his wife Christine and 19-year-old son, Suleman, who also died alongside him in the tragedy. Throughout the search and aftermath, King Charles asked to be “kept informed” of the details Hawkes confirms.“He was genuinely a lovely person. He was kind, generous, thoughtful, absolutely adored his wife and children and was passionate about philanthropy and making the world a better place.”
An OceanGate submersible.Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Despite their close friendship, Hawkes wasn’t aware that the father and son were interested in traveling to the wreck ofTitaniconboard theTitanuntil he saw “that their names were amongst the five passengers that were on it.”
He adds that his friend also would have never knowingly put himself or his son in danger.
“He would’ve been absolutely confident that what they were doing was totally safe,” says Hawkes. “He loved his family and his children too much. He would never, as far as he was aware, put them at any risk at all.”
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“He was absolutely passionate about making the world a better place, and we were very privileged that he saw the British Asian Trust as a trusted vehicle for supporting to be able to achieve that,” says Hawkes about Dawood’s prominent support for the BAT.
“He wanted to be updated, would ask questions, was really interested in what we were doing, and was always offering any connections that he got and other ways of helping.”
“He was one of those supporters who is, was genuinely inquisitive about the work that we were doing and wanted to know more about it and wanted to know what he could be doing to help make things better.”While based in London, Dawood also had family, including his sister Sabrina, in Karachi, Pakistan, where his Dawood Foundation provided assistance and support to BAT’s locally-based programs.
“He had a specific interest in our mental health program in Pakistan. And also in our women’s economic empowerment programs which is about supporting women to get jobs and to set up micro-enterprises,” says Hawkes.
source: people.com
