Shanta Gaury Pathak’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Shanta Gaury Pathak (nee Pandit, 2 February 1927 – 23 November 2010) was a British businesswoman and the co-founder (with her husband Laxmishanker Pathak) of the Patak’s brand of Indian-style curry pastes, sauces and spices.

Early life

She was born Shanta Gaury Pathak Pandit in Zanzibar on 2 February 1927, and was of Gujarati descent.

In 1945, she married Laxmishanker Pathak, who in 1938 had emigrated from Gujarat in British India to Mombasa, Kenya, where his eldest brother had a small business making sweets and samosas to the city’s burgeoning Indian population. After the Mau Mau insurgency, they left for England in 1956, reaching London with just £5.

Career

She was unhappy about her husband’s job cleaning the drains for Camden Council, and decided that they should start a similar business to what they had in Kenya, run from the kitchen of their Kentish Town flat. Progress was slow, and it was not until the late 1950s that they had enough money to buy a small shop close to Euston Station, followed by another in 1961, in Bayswater.

In 1962, their neighbours complained about the noise and smell, and Camden Council gave them three months to find alternative premises. They found a converted mill in Brackley, Northamptonshire, and left London. Later, they relocated to Lancashire.

Over time, the business grew to have an annual turnover of £55 million, when in 2007, it was taken over by Associated British Foods for a reported £105 million.

Personal life

In 1945, she married Laxmishanker Gopalji Pathak. They had four sons and two daughters.

Her husband died in 1997, but the will he left was unclear, and there were long-running family disputes and various acrimonious court cases.

Later life

Pathak died of heart failure on 23 November 2010, at the Royal Bolton Hospital, Farnworth, Bolton, and was survived by all six of her children.