Case Study: When the CEO Dies, What Comes First: His Company or His Family?

In the boardroom, Priya Gowda greeted four men in suits—the creditors of her husband, Partha, who had died suddenly of a heart attack 10 days earlier. She felt numb and exhausted—but also strangely reassured by the setting. The past week¹ had been spent dealing with the funeral home, lawyers, the media, and grieving family members. She had barely slept or eaten. But here, in the headquarters of Splendid Ice Cream, the business she’d watched Partha build from a small dairy farm into a major Indian conglomerate, she felt his energy animating her.