List of people from Goa

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This is a list of famous and notable people from Goa, India. This list aims to include persons who are known to a large number of people, and is not based on the extent of their popularity. Neither is the list viewed from the context of the present. Their fame could be brief, what matters is that they were well-known during the peak of their popularity.

Contents

[edit] Sports

  • Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, prominent soccer player and former Goa captain. One of Goa's best goalkeepers. An Arjuna awardee for his achievements in sports.
  • Bruno Coutinho, prominent Goan footballer and Arjuna awardee.
  • Roy Barreto, Once highest paid player professional league player.
  • Leander Paes (b. 1973-), tennis player of international status, Goa-born raised in Kolkata, and of Goan origin.
  • Dr VC Paes, sports medicine.
  • Dr Owen Pinto, sports medicine, Bombay.
  • Leo Pinto, part of the flood of Goans who hit Indian hockey at one time. In 1948 there were five Goans in the Indian Olympic hockey team that played at Wembley.

[edit] Olympians

  • Leopold Gracias: Field Hockey, 1980, representing Tanzania
  • Steve D'silva: Field Hockey, 1980, representing Tanzania
  • Freddy Furtado: Field Hockey, 1980, representing Tanzania
  • Dr. Sotor D'silva: Field Hockey, 1980, representing Tanzania
  • Benidict Mendes: Field Hockey, 1980, representing Tanzania

[edit] Music

  • Remo Fernandes, prominent pop star from Goa since the 'seventies. Also recognised for his role in some Hindi films from Bollywood.
  • Lorna, Goa's nightingale
  • Lata Mangeshkar, great playback singer of Bollywood. Has a world-record for the number of songs sung for the Indian film industry, estimated at over 25,000 some years ago.
  • Chris Perry, legendary music virtuoso
  • Antonio Fortunato de Figueiredo, conductor, violinist (1903-1981). Founder-director of Academia de Musica (now Dept of Western Classical Music, Kala Academy), founder-director Orquestra Sinfonica de Goa (Goa Symphony Orchestra).
  • Rev Dr Lourdino Barreto, author of over 100 major works, and his compositions have been performed both in India and abroad.
  • Noel do Carmo Flores, was dean of the faculty of music at the University of Vienna. Started piano studies at the age of five, tutored by Goan teachers, and is an alumnus of Don Bosco's in Panjim.
  • Kishori Amonkar, noted Indian classical singer.
  • Sanya Cota, currently Goa's rising violin star on the horizon.
  • Luis Remo de Maria Bernardo Fernandes aka Remo Fernandes.
  • Jitendra Abhisheki, noted Indian musician.
  • Prabhakar Karekar, Noted Indian classical singer. A great singer of (Natyasangeet).
  • Late Olegario Frank, gifted opera singer based in the UK,
  • Kesarbai Kerkar (1892-1977).
  • Dinanath Mangeshkar, after whom the auditorium at the Kala Academy, Goa is named.
  • Joao Agostinho Fernandes, (1871-1947), father of the Goan tiatr.
  • Joe 'Jazzie Joe' Perreira, clarinet and soprano sax
  • Lester Godinho, one of India's highly rated drummers
  • Monserrate Brothers Blasco Monserrate(trombone) and Bosco Monserrate (trumpet)
  • Tony Pinto (piano), played with international greats like Duke Ellington, Eddie Calvert and Jack Teagarden, Carl Clements ( Saxophone) from Boston, USA who studied Indian classical music under Amiya Das Gupta and with Devendra Murdeshwar and later performed with Divya and Louis Banks
  • Maestro Anthony Gonsalves from Majorda now in his nineties, the man who pioneered the introduction of Western harmony in Hindi film music and who worked with S D Burman and Naushad Ali.
  • Jose Cordeiro, Saligao, (1911-1982). Goa-based musician awarded posthumous state award for his contribution to arts and culture in Goa. Tenor singer and participant of the All Goa Mando Festival, training both adults and youth in traditional goan folk songs. Also known locally for his renditions of 'motets'(Psalms on the Passion of Christ) on All India Radio, Goa.
  • Christel Rakhi aka Keon. Born in Ponda, Goa. A prominent Rapper based in Norway. Married to a Norwegian historian, who is also a heavyweight boxing champion.

[edit] Indologists

  • Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi (1907-1966) renowned Indologist.
  • Dharmanand Kosambi (1876-1947) studied Pali and was a renowned Buddhist scholar.
  • Rev Dr Hubert Olympus Mascarenhas (1905-1973), educationist, was an Indologist of repute who spoke 11 European languages, in addition to Sanskrit and several Indian languages. His patriotism is seen as having brought him into conflict with the then British archbishop of Bombay.
  • Jose Gerson da Cunha (1844-1900) from Arpora in Bardez, one of India's prominent historian and Orientalist. Besides Konkani and Portuguese, French, English and Sanskrit, he could handle Pehlevi, Italian, Persian and German. He was also conversant with Marathi. Collector of coins, he had a collection of nearly 27,000 pieces of gold, silver and other baser metals.

[edit] Senior police

  • Julio Francis Ribeiro, "super-cop". Served as chief of police in Mumbai, and Governor of Punjab, during its troubled period of history. Later ambassador to Romania.
  • John Lobo (b.1921), Director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation. Introduced innovative features in the Bombay police, including its data processing unit, dog-squad, conviction index bureau. Was chief security liaison officer to two Indian prime ministers.
  • Caejetan Joseph Vincent Miranda, of Loutolim, was director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, India.
  • Anthony D'Souza from Canacona (Retired IGP)
  • Ronny Mendonca, IPS. Retired as Police Commissioner of Bombay.

Bold text== Political campaigners ==

  • Abbé Faria, a priest who is believed to have been a key participant in the Conspiracy Of The Pintos plot against the Portuguese in 1787, and later became a famous hypnotist and revolutionary in France.
  • Pio Gama Pinto, supported Africa in colonial times, and rose to become director of the Pan African Press. He worked to set up the Lumumba Institute, designed to train party officials of the KANU. Later, the first Kenyan political leader to be assassinated after Independence.
  • Keith Vaz, Aden-born politician of Goan origin in the House of Commons. Member in the first Cabinet of Tony Blair.
  • Canon Castilho Serpa do Rosario Noronha, elected for three successive terms as representative for Portuguese India in the Portuguese Parliament.
  • Rama Krishna Hegde, played the role of peace-maker between opposing factions of Goan patriots.
  • Telo Mascarenhas, freedom-fighter and also did a Portuguese translation of the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi.
  • Laxmikant Bhembre, in forced exile in Portugal, conducted classes on the Bhagvadgita for Portuguese enthusiasts.
  • Peter Alvares, from Parra, was a seasoned activist, socialist and founder of many unions for railways employees.
  • Terekholvir Alfred Alfonso. Led group of satyagrahis to the Terekhol fort in Goa, during campaign against Portuguese rule.

anand shankar pandey,DCP ,crime branch bombay,of bihar origin born and brought up in south goa.

[edit] Military

  • Air Marshal Loretto Pereira
  • Air Marshal Terence Joseph de Sa (b.1928) of Sangolda
  • Major General Antonio Caetano da Silva (b.1930)
  • Major Gen. Eustace D'Souza
  • Lt. Gen. F.T.Dias of Velcao
  • Lt. Gen.S.L.Menezes of Sangolda
  • Lt.Gen Eric Alexander Vas of Saligao
  • Gen Sunit Francis Rodrigues of Curtorim, who rose to head the Indian army. Currently (2006), Governor of Punjab.
  • Group Captain Conrad Dalton, VM of Siolim
  • Commodore Dias, from Ambora, Salsete Goa, Indian Navy

[edit] Judiciary and law

  • Fitz R S de Souza, barrister-at-law and PhD from London, was an important figure in African politics. Participated in Kenya's struggle for freedom.
  • John Maximian Nazareth (1908-1989) was president of the East African Indian Congress, and also served as puisne judge of the Kenya Supreme Court.
  • Justice Vassant Krishna Tamba (b.1926) has served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Portugal.
  • Aleixo Antonio Xavier Jose Ludovico da Costa (1904-1976), served as judge in Angola and Mozambique.
  • Justice Kashinath Trimbak Telang, called to the bar at the age of 22 and was an authority on Hindu Law. Later was judge of the High Court of Bombay.
  • Luis da Cunha Gonsalves, (b.1875) wrote as many as 14 volumes on his studies of Civil Law.
  • Wolfgang Dourado Attorney General, Zanzibar.

[edit] Technocrats, senior officials and designers

  • Manuel Menezes, (1922-1996), a high-caliber technocrat and Railway Board senior official.
  • Alfred Julius D'Souza, (b.1923) of Saligao was an assistant commissioner of income tax.
  • John Francis Ludger Gracias (1888-1969), among the first Goans to migrate to Kenya, played a major role in the establishment of the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours. Awarded with an MBE by King Edward VIII, one of the few honours bestowed by King Edward in his short reign.
  • Bismark Dias, brilliant civil engineer, remembered for designing the town of Vasco da Gama, with its tree-lined boulevards and gardens. In the US, he has done work on devices used in colour TV receivers, and also ultrasound imaging devices.
  • Oscar Gouveia Pinto,Master Mariner, Presently Director, Valles Steamship (Canada) Ltd. a ship management company, Based in Vancouver, operating a fleet of deep sea tankers and Bulk Carriers.
  • Charles Correa, has designed monuments ranging from the Kasturba Gandhi Samadhi at Pune, to Salvacao Church in Bombay and hotels in Andamans and Kovalam. Also Goa's Kala Academy, the premier local institution for performing arts.
  • F Paul de Mello, a Goan engineer whose work has been highly noticed in Brazil.
  • Suman Moolgaokar, engineering prodigy, born in Bombay to Goan parents, earned a big name in Tatas. In his tenure, TELCO's entry into the manufacture of passenger cars merited him being called the father of India's automobile industry.
  • Albert Vivian D'Costa of Aldona, who was already investigating weak bridges way back in 1957.
  • William Xavier Mascarenhas, an associate of the legendary Sir Visheshvarayya, was involved in pre-Independence planning of major roads, bridges and river valley projects.
  • Engineer A X Moraes rose to meet the crisis of floods in Gujarat in 1927.

[edit] Academia

  • Prof Armando Menezes, prominent educationist who influenced a generation and more of students at Dharwad and elsewhere.
  • Dr Victor F B de Mello, rose to professorships at the three principal universities in São Paulo.

[edit] Editors, journalists

  • Frank Moraes, editor of many prominent newspapers in post-Independence India, including The Indian Express.
  • Dom Moraes (b.1938) has won the American Press Club Citation for Excellence in Reporting, for some 20 articles he wrote for the "New York Times Sunday Magazine". Also a poet. Died earlier this decade.
  • Roshelle Charlotte Fernandes (b.1983), editor of Bahrain Traveler, a monthly travel magazine based in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

[edit] Industrialists

  • Srinivas Dempo, mine-owner
  • V M Salgaocar, mine-owner
  • Dattaraj Salgaocar, mine-owner and industrialist
  • Dempo family, connected with a mining house and other ventures
  • CMM, Cosme Mathias Menezes business house

[edit] The Arts

  • Francis Newton Souza, (1924-2003), world-renowned artist.
  • Ramchandra Pandurang Kamat of Madkai, hailed as a genius among the sculptors of his time, during his travels in Europe.
  • Angelo da Fonseca, of Santo Estevam, is noted for his talent of presenting Christian themes in Indian setting and style. His paintings are in churches of Pune, while Lisbon commissioned him to do a large painting on the death of Dom Joao de Castro in 1953. He was also requisitioned by Lady Maharaj Singh, wife of the then Governor of Bombay, and Viceroy of India Lord Linlithgow.
  • Dom Martin
    "Dom Martin has a special technique of expressing whatever lies deepest in the human soul, and what is more important, of the terrible and eternal problem of our presence as humanbeings in this vale of tears. His seriousness is undoubtedly, one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- ethos of his art. The man lives and reacts through what is true, or to whatever appears to him to be true, and what he executes is his truth. Hence, the intense reality of an expression of art which it appears to me is not very common . . ."
    - Dr. Luis Gaspar da Silva

[edit] Science

  • Abbé Faria, known for his achievements in the field of hypnotism, globally.
  • Dr Norman Lewis, one of India's pioneer of the food-irradiation programme.
  • Emidio Afonso, just out of his teens, he reconstructed with the simplest available material a simplified version of Sir J C Bose's crescograph, an instrument for measuring the sensitivity of plants.
  • Dr Froilano de Mello (1877-1955), a Goan who discovered protozoa, parasites, microbes and viruses many of which bear the Latin name given by him followed by the name "de Mello" as the discoverer. Research scientist of high caliber, a successful professor. Did remarkable work for improving the health of the malaria-endemic city of Old Goa by mapping the entire area so as to discover the source of malaria. Fought valiant battles against TB and leprosy and hailed as one of the foremost leprologists.
  • Datta V. Naik (50), receive a Certificate of Recognition from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
  • Agostinho Vincente Lourenço (1862-?) who went to Germany to work under the famous chemist Bunsen. There's a bust of Lourenço in the Lisbon Academy of Science, which stands besides Lavoisier and others, and a road named after him at Areeiro in Lisbon. The name was removed for a while by mistake after April 1974 democratic revolt in Portugal, because he was wrongly identified with Agostinho Lourenço, who had been head of the Portuguese secret police of Salazar regime.
  • Nelson Abreu (1982, Lisbon - ), Goan descendent recipient of prestigious Silver Knight Award; prodigous investigator, lecturer, and writer on first-person consciousness research, especially on the out-of-body experience and spirituality ramifications; Instructor for non-profit International Academy of Consciousness, Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab intern, member of International Consciousness Research Laboratories consortium, and Student Members' Representative of Society for Scientific Exploration, and founder of the university student organization Science of Self Club.

[edit] Religion

[edit] Medical professionals

  • Dr Vithal N. Shirodkar, of Shiroda, has the famous 'Shirodkar Technique' for opening blocked fallopian tubes and the cervical hood.
  • Dr Sandra de Sa Souza (b.1943) has been hailed as one of India's pioneer in cochlear implant surgery, providing new hope to the totally deaf.
  • Late Dr Manuel Vincente Alfredo da Costa, has a hospital named after him in Lisbon.
  • Dr Acacio Gabriel Viegas, (1856-1933), credited with the discovery of the outbreak of bubonic plague in Bombay in 1896. Considered responsible for saving many lives and eventually controlling the plague.
  • Dada Vaidya, from a family of Ayurveda physicians, and in true family traditions never accepted any fees and on the contrary gave drugs he prescribed free. Also began a campaign towards preventing diseases.
  • Dr. Colin D'Cunha, former Chief Medical Office of Health for Ontario
  • Dr Sharad G Vaidya, skillful surgeon (general/neuro/orthopaedic/oncology) who established the Goa Cancer Society and the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication. He lobbied for the unanimous passing of the Goa Prohibition of Tobacco Act 1997Click to see the document
  • Eknath Naik, MD, PhD, MSPH, A noted Medical Doctor trained in both USA and India, a specialist in Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology. He is instrumental in developing joint Indo-US program in HIV Training and Research in several states in India including, Goa. He has also established an NGO in Goa working in the field of Health and Education.

[edit] Writers

  • Dom Moraes
  • Manoharai Sardessai, Konkani Novelist
  • Reginald Fernandes, Konkani Novelist and well known violin player. wrote over 100 much read and appreciated novels.
  • Dr. J.Clement Vaz, biographer of Goan achievers
  • George Menezes, humour writer and management expert.
  • Frank Simoes, a passionate Goan Advertising person, Author of "Glad season in Goa"
  • Ladis da Silva has written on the Inuit and the North American Indians. *Joseph Furtado (1872-1947) of Pilerne was one of the early Goans who attempted to write poetry in English.
  • Lambert Mascarenhas, author of "Sorrowing Lies My Land"
  • Jose Pereira (b.1931), a writer, orator, historian, musicologist, theologian and a naturalist of a high order.
  • Mariano Jose Saldanha (1878-1975) was involved in organising Konkani programmes to be broadcast to Goans in British East Africa and the Gulf region. *Fr Antonio Pereira (1919-2004) has scores of books and publications to his credit, mainly in Konkani.
  • Francisco Luis Gomes (1829-1869) of Navelim was hailed in Europe as the "prince of intellectuals".
  • Mons. Sebastiao Rodolfo Dalgado (1855-1922) of Assagao had a penchant for knowing the basic structure of a language. Acquired familiarity with Malayalam and Sinhala, with Bengali and Kannada, and studied Marathi and Sanskrit. In 1892, he produced a Konkani-Portuguese dictionary and later a grammar.
  • Krishnadas Shama, sixteenth century Quelossim genius, left behind several stories in pure Konkani.
  • Sonia Faleiro, Mumbai-based journalist and author. Author of the novel The Girl.
  • Silviano C. Barbosa, writer, lyricist, novelist. Author of the Canadian Goan novel "The Sixth Night".

[edit] Diplomacy

  • Placido D'Souza (b.1933) was ambassador to a large number of countries, including in the West Indies, Panama, Zaire, New York, Port of Spain, Hong Kong and Nairobi.
  • Peter Lynn Sinai (b.1933), diplomat of Goan origin, topped the competitive exams in 1956.
  • Vaman Sardesai, former ambassador to Angola.
  • Antonio David Sousa, Chancellor, Portuguese Consulate in Goa since 1997.

[edit] Governors

  • Anthony Lancelot Dias, ICS (b.1910) was praised for negotiating India's foodgrains with "great ability and success". He was appointed Lt. Governor of Tripura in 1970 and later Governor of West Bengal.

[edit] Leaders in business, finance etc

  • Victor J Menezes (b.1949) of Bardez has beenstorming the corporate world as one of the heads of Citicorp.
  • Peter Joseph Joaquim Pinto (b.1915) of Sangolda has been appointed alternate executive director for India on the boards of the IMF and World Bank. *Maurice Gracias (b.1923) of Carmona is an economist. In the US foreign service, Was chief auditor and was assigned to 16 African countries.
  • Prabhakar R Narvekar appointed one of the three deputy managing directors of the IMF. Born in Goa, he was educated in Bombay and Columbia University. He joined the IMF in 1954.
  • Eric P.W. da Costa (b.1909) heading the Indian Institute of Public Opinion, after a significant meet in 1952 with George Gallup, past president of Gallup Polls Inc. Earlier president of the World Association for Public Opinion Research. Assistant to the chief minister of Mysore State. Invited by industrialist G.D.Birla, to direct the Textile Machinery Corporation of India. Editor of the 'Eastern Economist' in the 'forties.
  • Clarence de Lima, killed when a VVIP plane crashed while accompanying former Indian prime minister Morarji Dessai at Jorhat in Assam.
  • Percival Noronha, former Goa government official and founder-president of Association of Friends of Astronomy (AFA) in Goa. Active in the Goa Heritage Society and is a writer.

[edit] External links

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