Suri Sehgal: Difference between revisions

'''Surinder Mohan (Suri) Sehgal''' is an [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]] philanthropist with a long career as a crop scientist, seedsman, entrepreneur, and leading global hybrid seed industry expert.<ref name="The Financial Express">{{cite web|url=http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/indian-american-solving-rural-indias-challenges-wins-philanthropy-award/409986/|title=Indian American Solving Rural India's Challenges Wins Philanthropy Award|publisher=The Financial Express|date=October 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>''Maize Genetics and Breeding in the 20th Century'', ed. Peter Peterson and Angelo Bianchi, World Scientific Publishing Company, 1999.</ref> His research and professional successes in the areas of [[plant breeding]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plant breeding {{!}} History, Applications, & Methods {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/plant-breeding |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and genetics, ag biotechnology, [[intellectual property]], business management, and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxRKguOVfS4 seed industry development]<ref>{{Citation |title=100 Voices on the International Year of Soils: Dr Suri Sehgal, Sehgal Foundation, India |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxRKguOVfS4 |access-date=2023-04-13 |language=en}}</ref> were carried out in executive capacities in several companies in the United States, Belgium, and Germany. After the divestment of a group of four seed companies that Sehgal founded and ran with his wife, Edda Sehgal, the couple created two nonprofit organizations to promote [https://indiacsr.in/s-m-sehgal-foundation-empowers-rural-rajasthan-through-community-led-development/ rural development]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-06 |title=S M Sehgal Foundation Empowers Rural Rajasthan Through Community-Led Development - India CSR |url=https://indiacsr.in/s-m-sehgal-foundation-empowers-rural-rajasthan-through-community-led-development/ |access-date=2023-04-13 |language=en-US}}</ref> in Suri's country of origin: Sehgal (Family) Foundation in 1998 in the US, and [https://www.smsfoundation.org/ S M Sehgal Foundation]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Sehgal |title=Sehgal Foundation |url=https://www.smsfoundation.org/}}</ref> in India. The foundation focuses on water security<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wire |first=A. B. |date=2016-05-06 |title=India needs to harvest water to end drought crisis: Indian American philanthropist Suri Sehgal - The American Bazaar |url=https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2016/05/06/india-needs-harvest-water-end-drought-crisis-indian-american-philanthropist-suri-sehgal/,%20https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2016/05/06/india-needs-harvest-water-end-drought-crisis-indian-american-philanthropist-suri-sehgal/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |language=en-US}}</ref>, food security, and social justice, particularly empowerment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipbo.vib-ugent.be/team/suri-sehgal|title=Dr. Suri Sehgal Biography|publisher=International Plant Biotechnology Outreach}}</ref> A proponent of corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability, Sehgal has also provided support individually and through the foundations for projects related to agriculture research,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrisat.org/newsroom/news-releases/icrisat-pr-2003-media2.htm|title=ICRISAT Media Releases 2003: Sehgal Foundation Gifts Further $1 Million to ICRISAT|publisher=International Crops Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics|date=20 November 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/11/21/stories/2003112102110400.htm|title= Icrisat gets another $1 m donation from Sehgal Foundation|publisher=The Hindu Business Line|date=21 November 2003}}</ref> the preservation of [https://www.atree.org/s-m-sehgal-foundation-centre-biodiversity-and-conservation biodiversity]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-02-28 |title=S M Sehgal Foundation - Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation |url=https://www.atree.org/s-m-sehgal-foundation-centre-biodiversity-and-conservation |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atree.org/research/sscbc|title=Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation|publisher=Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment|date=19 March 2014}}</ref> and the conservation of [https://fconline.foundationcenter.org/fdo-grantmaker-profile?key=SEHG001 natural resources].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moines |first=Des |date=2 November 2022 |title=Sehgal Foundation {{!}} Foundation Directory |url=https://fconline.foundationcenter.org/fdo-grantmaker-profile?key=SEHG001 |url-status=live}}</ref>

 

Suri achieved a bachelor of science with honors and a master of science with honors in botany at Punjab University, where he received silver medals, merit certificates, and scholarships for academic achievement in 1955 and 1957. He came to the United States in 1959 to study plant genetics and work with Paul C. Mangelsdorf at Harvard University. He received the Anna C. Ames Memorial Scholarship in 1961. He attained his Ph.D. in plant genetics from Harvard in 1963. He later (1982) completed the Harvard International Senior Management Program in Mont-Pelerin, Switzerland.