Veteran educationist M K Panduranga Setty, who expanded the academic operations of the Rashtreeya Sikshana Samithi Trust (RSST) into an empire, died on Saturday. He was 92.
Survived by his wife and two sons, Setty was suffering from age-related ailments and was in the hospital for the last few days. He breathed his last on Saturday afternoon.
Setty was president emeritus of the RSST that runs the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya (RV) educational institutions. He was also chancellor of RV University.
Between 1972 and 2022, Setty was president of the RSST which now has 24 institutions with over 1,500 faculty members and 20,000 students at RV College of Engineering, RV Dental College, SSMRV College, NMKRV College and so on. In May 2022, Setty's son MP Shyam, an entrepreneur himself, was named RSST president.
A grauduate of Central College, Setty also made a name for himself as an industrialist, starting from his visit to Switzerland to get trained on operating imported flour mill machines at the Krishna Flour Mill founded by his father Meda Kasturiranga Setty.
A Rajyotsava awardee, Setty served as president of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the All India Manufacturers’ Association.
He was on several committees and was a Board of Governors member at the Indian Institute of Science. He was president of the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association.
Setty was also chairman of the Karnataka State Industrial and Investment Development Corporation.
He was conferred with doctorates by the Avinashlingam and Mangalore universities for his contribution to the field of education.
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