Dnyaneshwar Agashe

Agashe's father had founded the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate in 1934.

Dnyaneshwar Chandrashekhar Agashe (IAST: Jñāneśvara Candraśekhara Āgāśe; 17 April 1942 – 2 January 2009) was an Indian businessman, cricketer, cricket administrator and philanthropist.

Agashe was born in Pune, Bombay Presidency on 17 April 1942, into an aristocratic and entrepreneurial Chitpavan brahmin family of industrialist Chandrashekhar Agashe and wife Indirabai Agashe (née Dwarka Gokhale).

His father was a member of the aristocratic Agashe gharana of the village of Mangdari in the Bhor State.

He was the third youngest of nine siblings who survived to adulthood.

He had an older brother, Panditrao Agashe.

His fraternal twin, Mukta, died a few months after birth.

His sisters nicknamed him Shirin, as a child.

Agashe's mother was the daughter of Narayan Gokhale VI from the aristocratic Gokhale gharana of Dharwad.

She was a great niece of Bapu Gokhale, a Third Anglo-Maratha War general under Peshwa Baji Rao II of the Maratha Empire.

Through her, Agashe was a distant relation of musician Ashutosh Phatak, historian Dinkar G. Kelkar, and scientist P. K. Kelkar.

Agashe grew up between Pune, Shreepur, and Mangdari.

Him and his siblings were in Mangdari during the anti-Brahmin riots that followed Gandhi's assassination in 1948.

The family's wada, called Chausopi, along with the family's Ram temple was burned down.

He began his schooling at the Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya in Pune.

In his fifth grade, he transferred to the Deccan Education Society's Raman Baug High School in Pune.

Between 1955 and 1957, he was selected for the Pune district cricket team and then for the Maharashtra cricket team to play the Cooch Behar Trophy.

He further sought training at the National Defense Academy before being selected as a wicket-keeper-batsman for the West Zone cricket team.

While a West Zone player, his performance in the matches in Calcutta got him selected for the Indian Universities cricket team to tour Sri Lanka.

After his father's death in 1956, the syndicate was headed by S. L. Limaye as chairman of the board of directors of the company from 1959 till 1990, while K. V. Champhekar took over as managing director of the company from 1957 to 1962, followed by G. S. Valimbe from 1963 to 1969, with Agashe joining the board of directors for the company in 1966, and launching new branches of the factory near Akluj.

He played first-class cricket for Maharashtra between 1962 and 1968, and served as managing director of the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate from 1986 to 1996.

Between 1962 and 1968, Agashe played first-class cricket for the Maharashtra cricket team as a wicket-keeper-batsman, and scored two half-centuries in 13 matches.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sir Parshurambhau College in 1964.

After briefly considering law at ILS Law College, he further graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce.

He played his best season in 1964–65 where he made his career-best 75, took ten catches and made two stumpings, and was credited for Maharashtra's victory against the Nari Contractor captained Gujarat cricket team in the 1964 season.

His teammates at the time were Chandu Borde, Sadanand Mohol, and Hemant Kanitkar.

During the same season, he was a wicket-keeper for the Indian universities team against the Sri Lankan cricket team.

Agashe married Rekha Gogte in 1967, a niece of B. M. Gogte.

She was also a descendant of the aristocratic Latey (Bhagwat) family.

Through her, Agashe was a relation of Kokuyo Camlin head Dilip Dandekar, and academic Jyoti Gogte.

The couple had three children, sons Mandar and Ashutosh Agashe, and daughter Sheetal Agashe.

While at Raman Baug High School, Agashe took an interest in cricket, field hockey, football, and badminton.

Under the guidance of his school's sports coach Rambhau Lele, he began playing hockey as a center-forward.

Known for his unorthodox batting with lofted shots, Agashe was a part of his school's cricket team which won the Sethna Cup and the Pudumjee Shield against Shri Shivaji Preparatory Military School.

He is best remembered for founding the Suvarna Sahakari Bank in 1969, and the scandal following the bank's alleged scam case in 2008.

He also joined the Maharashtra Cricket Association in 1969.

Beginning in 1969, Agashe founded the Suvarna Sahakari Bank in Pune for the banking purposes of mainly middle-class families.

In July 1970, Agashe and his brother became joint managing directos of the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate.

Beginning in the 1970s, under Agashe and his brother, the syndicate manufactured liquor in Shreepur, Maharashtra, specialising in whisky production under its several flagship brands.

He was twice elected vice president of Board of Control for Cricket in India, serving his second and final term from 1995 to 1999.