Robert Chandran

Robert Viswanathan Chandran ( born May 31, 1950 in Mumbai, India, † January 7, 2008 in Riau, Indonesia) was a born in India US-American entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Chemoil.

Chandran unsuccessfully studied medicine at the University of Madras and later gained a Masters degree in chemistry. After his mother's death, he left India in 1972 and lived in the Philippines, where he studied at the Asian Institute of Management in order to then emigrate to the United States. Chandran made ​​his first fortune in California by investing in real estate. In 1981, he received his citizenship as Americans and founded in the same year Chemoil, an oil and chemical companies, specializing in the refueling of ships.

Back in 1991, Chemoil was led by Forbes Magazine as one of the largest private U.S. companies. Due to the Exxon Valdez disaster and the subsequent downturn Chemoil, however, had to be restructured. Chemoil formed a partnership with the Japanese trading house Itochu and bought 50 percent stake in the company. 2005 shifted Chandran the headquarters of Chemoil to Singapore. He gave up his U.S. citizenship and received the citizenship of Singapore.

Chandran died in January of 2008 because of injuries he suffered through a helicopter crash. His private fortune amounted last 450 million dollars.