Russi Cooper (pictured), the former cricketer and respected member of the international shipping community who passed away on July 31, 2023 at the age of 100 (see "Century to centenary,” In Memoriam, Parsiana, September 7-20, 2023), was my dear friend of nearly 40 years. I met him in 1985 when I was employed by a London insurance club for ship agents called Transport 
Intermediaries Mutual and later International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) of which he was a director.
One of my responsibilities was ITIC’s clients in India. My qualification for this was the two years I spent in the 1970s at various Indian ports with my husband who was a port captain for a Greek shipping company. During this time I developed a love for India. Russi, as a director of the Club, visited London at least once a year and we became firm friends for 12 years over dinners and visits to the London theaters. When Russi retired from the board in 1997, he shared his invaluable knowledge and experience in maritime matters with ITIC’s correspondents in India.
Over the next several years I made regular trips to India. Russi would often accompany me to meetings in Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Delhi. He opened many doors for me as he was a well-known and respected member of the Indian shipping community. Traveling with a foreigner has its downside. I vividly remember Russi being politely exasperated with the receptionist at a hotel in Madras who refused to believe that "Mr Cooper” was Indian and wanted to charge him the much higher room tariff that applied to foreigners!
In 2007 Russi and I met up in Ranthambore in pursuit of tigers — which we found. After I retired I visited India several times, and one of the main reasons was my friendship with Russi. My final visit was in 2018 when we met for the last time. We had dinner at the Willingdon Club and he was as sharp, well informed about the world and amusing as ever though he was 96 years old and physically frail.
I was privileged to have this extraordinary man as a dear friend. He was extremely intelligent, knowledgeable, good company, always kind and a great gentleman. I will miss him.
JULIA MAVROPOULOS
London, UK
juliamavro@blueyonder.co.uk