Sambhu Nath Mukherjee, a prominent name in Calcutta’s advertising agency circle, breathed his last on Wednesday after a prolonged illness.
Mukherjee, who was the managing director of Press & Publicity Syndicate Pvt Ltd, was 76. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Born in Calcutta in 1944, he joined the advertising agency that his father Ram Mukherjee founded in 1948, even though he was trained as a lawyer. He took the company to greater heights.
During his tenure, PPS expanded operations outside Calcutta to Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam. All the leading state and central public sector units used to be clients of PPS.
The Mukherjees had a strong connection with the then ruling Congress party as Ram Mukherjee was an active member. Sambhu Mukherjee’s elder son, Nilotpal, recalled that his father often visited Pranab Mukherjee’s ancestral home during Durga Puja.
Chandra Bhanu Sen, who worked closely with Mukherjee, remembered him as someone who had excellent contacts in the top level of bureaucracy and senior-level management of PSUs. “A charming personality, he had a strong personal rapport with the top bosses of the PSUs,” Sen recalled.
Mukherjee, who was a regular at the elite club circuit of the city, became president of Calcutta Club in 2008, having served the committee for 10 years prior to it.
Known for his affable nature, Mukherjee never hesitated to help out friends and associates.