Remembering Banker Aisha De Sequeira who Put People First And Built Morgan Stanley in India

Aisha De Sequeira, the co-head of Morgan Stanley in India passed away at 50 succumbing to a fiercely fought battle with cancer. As a banker she will be remembered as one who not just cut big deals for one of the world's biggest banks in India but also as a warm person who put people first. "Aisha, was a shy but very charming person who in her simple and quiet style picked many big ticket business deals for Morgan Stanley and shaped its presence in an aggressive investment banking market," says Shaili Chopra, the founder of SheThePeople, a business journalist who reported on investment banking for NDTV and ETNOW between 2007-2012 and regularly interviewed her. "She will be most remembered, not for her deals but how she dealt with people."

Roy de Souza, Aisha's husband shared the news of her death on Facebook. "Sadly my wife Aisha de Sequeira passed away early this morning in New York. She was a great person who was warm and loving. She enjoyed spending time with her sons Nathan (9), Alexander (9) and Erasmo (11)." Her family and friends shared pictures on a website in her memory. Here's one posted by her husband Roy de Souza of Aisha's time at Yale.

Aisha studied engineering at Goa College of Engineering then went on to do an MBA at Yale in the US. --- She took a summer job at Morgan Stanley and then accepted a full-time position there. She married Roy De Souza in 2008. Her father Erasmo de Sequeira was a politician from Goa.

Many of her peers remember her as a banker, "a leader with a heart." She used to do business in a most competitive environment, in her quiet and ambitious style.

"When I interviewed Aisha De Sequeira more than 12 years ago, she was one of the few women to lead an investment bank in India. There was something remarkably different about her. She was very approachable, and forever smiling even in the most complex interviews. I can tell you that investment bankers back in the peak of the 2007 bull market, cutting big deals, were mostly arrogantly and riding high on business-breaks. But Aisha, in her late 30s back then, was young and also brought fresh energy and warmth to the banking band of boys so to speak."

AishaDe Sequeira had moved back to India to take charge of Morgan Stanley’s Investment Group, after the company had split from Nimesh Kampani's JM Financial. De Sequeira first worked on deals as an investment banking lead and later in 2013 became Morgan Stanley's co-head in India.

Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, who knew her put it well in a blog for Moneycontrol. "The world of financial services has lost a star. A role model, both for women and men, has departed too soon."