Rudy – A compassionate Leader and Fighter

Bharat Avalani Apr 21, 2020

I write this with great sadness over the unimaginable loss of a close friend Rudy (Rudratej Singh) who succumbed to cardiac arrest this morning while exercising on the treadmill at his home. He was 46.

Rudy and I were colleagues at Unilever.

We worked on developing and delivering the Oralcare Social Mission. And later on, we developed the Close Up Brand Promise and brought it to life globally. Rudy was more of a thinking person and I was more of a feeling person. Over the years we got to know each other well and shared our ups and downs. It was amazing to see how with his expanded responsibilities he developed and mentored many leaders.

Joban Singh was mentored by Rudy and in his words, “Rudy you were an inspiration, a role model and a mentor in so many ways Have always looked up to you. Gone too soon. But with a legacy few others could match and achieve in over twice the time. You’ll always remain a rockstar Rudy. You’ll always remain in our thoughts and heart.”

He moved from Unilever to Royal Enfield in 2015 as its President. Every time I spotted an Enfield bike during my travels, I would snap a photo on my phone and WhatsApp it to him and he would instantly reply. The last such photo I sent was from Cannes.

Rudy was classy and stylish. He was an avid golfer and a collector of shoes. I remember one evening Rudy, Madhu Rao and me were strolling in Bali after work. Rudy came across a shop that sold handcrafted shoes Madhu and I ended buying a pair of each but Rudy did not find them good enough to buy.

Rudy used to organize his annual family golf tournament in Rajasthan and he always wanted to play golf at the top golf courses in the world. He and Herry Budiazhari had planned to attend the Ryder Cup in the US later in September this year.

He was choosy about the choices he made and I am grateful that he chose me as his friend! Every time I visited India, he would ask me to bring for him kacang (peanuts) from KL. His favourite were the ones served on Malaysia Airlines.

I was touched and moved to learn about his last two messages.

A fortnight ago his colleague at BMW, Mihir Dayal passed away and Rudy tweeted a touching obituary for Dayal on April 8. He tweeted, “Rest in peace my friend – we play our pending round of golf on the other side.”

In August 2019 he was appointed as the first Indian President and CEO of BMW India.

I last spoke to him on March 25 and I was looking forward to seeing him in October. Alas, that was not meant to be. His final video message to his colleagues at BMW shows the character that he was! A compassionate leader and fighter! You will always be within us Rudy.