The Most Brilliant Minds I Have Ever Met / By Pranay Gupte
During the course of a long journalistic and writing career, I have had the privilege to meet some of the smartest men and women of my time. They have had an impact on me because their staggering intellects, their ability to synthesize ideas, their modesty, and their natural inclination to find solutions to societal problems. I learned a lot from each one of them – most of all the humbling reality that I could never match their brilliance. It is difficult selecting a few from a large list of great people I have personally known well, but here’s my choice (offered alphabetically):
The late Ambassador Morris B. Abram (United States)
Mr. Salameh Fouad Abdul-Hadi (Jordan)
Mrs. Diana Hamade Al Ghurair (United Arab Emirates)
The late R. W. “Johnny” Apple (The New York Times)
Dr. Endré Balazs (Hungary)
Professor Jagdish Bhagwati (Columbia University)
Professor Ralph Buultjens (Sri Lanka)
Mr. Chua Huck Cheng (Singapore)
Mr. Sean Cleary (South Africa)
Mr. Gerson da Cunha (India)
Professor Padma Desai (Columbia University)
Mr. Arthur Gelb (The New York Times)
Dr. Allan E. Goodman (Institute of International Education)
The late Professor Charusheela Gupte (India)
The late Dr. Mahbub ul Haq (Pakistan)
Mr. Lee E. Koppelman (United States)
Mr. Prabhakar Koregaonkar (India)
Mr. Nicholas Labuschagne (South Africa)
The late Anand Mohan Lal (India)
The late James W. Michaels (Forbes Magazine)
Mr. Jamil K. Mroue (Lebanon)
Mr. Hugh O’Haire, Jr. (United States)
Lord Swraj Paul of Marylebone (United Kingdom)
Mr. Dawood A. Rawat (Mauritius)
The late A. M. Rosenthal (The New York Times)
Professor Vandana Sehgal (India)
The late Father Leonard Serkis, S.J. (Lebanon)
Mr. Anwer Sher (Pakistan)
Mr. Louis A. Silverstein (The New York Times)
The late Theodore C. Sorensen (Advisor to President John F. Kennedy)
Ms. Emma Thompson (United Kingdom)
Ms. Jyotsna Varma (Indian Administrative Service)