The passing of Edgar Rebeiro at the venerable age of ninety-five marks the quiet departure of a luminous mind—one that helped shape not merely urban landscapes but the very grammar of urban thought in post-liberation India. With his demise, Goa and the nation at large bids farewell to a planner of rare distinction, a man whose life’s work bore the indelible imprint of intellect, wisdom, and an abiding sense of duty.
Educated at the esteemed Sir J. J School of Art, Mumbai which is now known as Sir J. J College of Architecture - Mr. Ribeiro went on to deepen his scholarship in England, absorbing the best traditions of European planning while retaining a deeply Indian sensibility. Upon his return, he joined the Town and Country Planning Organisation of India, embarking upon a career that would, in time, place him among the foremost planners of his generation.
His association with Goa commenced in 1964, when he was deputed to his homeland in the formative years following Goa’s liberation. It was under the stewardship of the State’s first Chief Minister, late Shri Dayanand Bandodkar, that Mr. Ribeiro played a pivotal role in establishing the Town and Country Planning Department in Goa—an institutional edifice and legal framework that continues to guide the State’s developmental trajectory. His contribution in those early years was not merely administrative; it was foundational, marked by clarity of vision and a deep sensitivity to Goa’s unique cultural, architectural and environmental ethos.
Over the course of his distinguished career, Mr. Ribeiro held several positions of eminence, including serving as the first Planning Commissioner of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). He rose to superannuate as the Chief Planner to the Government of India in 1988, leaving behind a legacy of principled planning and institutional integrity. His engagement with academia was equally noteworthy—he served as Director of the School of Planning and Architecture at Delhi and later as the first Chairman of the School of Planning and Architecture at Bhopal , nurturing generations of planners with the same quiet rigour that defined his own practice.
Even in the years following his formal retirement, Mr. Ribeiro remained an active and thoughtful voice in public discourse. As a member of the Task Force for the Regional Plan 2021, he lent his experience and expertise to shaping Goa’s future. His writings and public interventions—particularly on the preservation of Old Goa’s heritage—were marked by a rare combination of erudition and conviction.
In his personal life, he embodied a certain old-world grace. Having spent his early years in Mumbai, he chose to return to Goa, where he lived in his ancestral home in Sucorro, Bardez—a residence reflective of the heritage Lusitanian - Goan house, and of a life lived with aesthetic refinement. There, alongside his wife Flavia, he found repose in surroundings that spoke to both memory and belonging.
To have known Mr. Ribeiro was to engage with a mind that traversed disciplines with ease, and the conversations with him were as enriching as they were expansive. I shall forever treasure and cherish the warmth of his company and the depth of our many conversations . His graceful words and quiet wisdom have left a lasting impression on me. His passing leaves an irreplaceable void.
In mourning his loss, we do not merely recall a distinguished Town planner; we honour a life devoted to timeless ideals, with quiet steadfastness, to the service of society. In him, Goa and India have lost a son of rare merit and enduring legacy.