Dr Shah died on 31 March 2004 at King Edward Memorial Hospital, the hospital he had served for more than 40 years.

Dr Shah completed his medical training at Seth G. S. Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital, Bombay, India. He later trained in psychiatry and completed his DPM in 1962 at the same institute. He was elected a Foundation Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1971 and was later promoted to fellowship.

His academic career began as a lecturer in psychiatry at King Edward Memorial Hospital, where he worked for over 30 years until his retirement as Emeritus Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry. He developed the in-patient and out-patient psychiatric services at the hospital and was the founder of the Deaddiction Centre in Mumbai for which he received a national award for clinical excellence in 1990.

He helped to revive The Indian Psychiatric Society, which he served as secretary and subsequently as president. He also presided over the Indian Association of Social Psychiatry and later the Indian Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Dr Shah had several dozen publications to his name, including the co-authorship of a textbook, Handbook of Psychiatry, with his wife, Hema Shah.

Over the past two decades, despite losing his vision, he remained a keen learner, teacher, philosopher and friend to many.

Dr Shah was awarded the prestigious Dr D. L. N. Murti Rao Oration, the Drishti Gaurav Award by the Lions Club in 2001 and the Dr V. N. Bagadia Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.