New Delhi, May 15: Eric Joseph Simeon, the former headmaster of La Martiniere, Calcutta, and the first Indian headmaster of Doon School, passed away today. He was 89.

Simeon had been suffering from terminal cancer and passed away at the Indian Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi Cantonment. He had a brilliant career in the army and outside it as an educationist.

He set up Sainik School, Kunjpura, Punjab, in 1961 on the directive of then defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon.

The school, meant to send recruits to the National Defence Academy, is believed to have produced the largest number of senior army officers.

Simeon retired from the army in 1967 and left Sainik School to head La Martiniere in Calcutta. After three years there, he was invited to be the first Indian headmaster of Doon School, where he served for nine years till 1979.

He then moved to Mumbai to head the Cathedral and John Connon School. He was there till his retirement in 1986.

The funeral will be held on the Army Cremation Ground, Brar Square, Delhi Cantonment, at 1 pm on Wednesday.