R. N. Shetty

Shetty was born on 15 August 1928, in the coastal town of Murdeshwar, in the present-day Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka into a family of farmers. His father was the Muktesar (Hereditary Administrator) of the Murudeshwar Temple dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. After completing high school education, Shetty started his career as a civil contractor in Sirsi. Recounting his early days, Shetty is noted to have said that this choice was driven by the fact that back in those days there were no colleges in Sirsi for him to continue his studies. ==Career==

In 1961, Shetty formed the R N Shetty & Company, a civil engineering and construction company. The company took up public infrastructure buildings including bridges on the Honnavar–Bangalore road. In 1966, he shifted base from his native Uttara Kannada district to Hubli, in the northern Karnataka. He also built tunnels for the Konkan Railway project and canals for the Upper Krishna Project. In 1987, he set up Murudeshwar Ceramics to manufacture glazed ceramic tiles with manufacturing facilities in Hubli and Karaikal in Puducherry. In 1993, Shetty entered the power sector, setting up Murudeshwar Power Corporation which built a mini hydel power project in 1999, with a commissioned capacity of 11.6 MW at Narayanpur Left Bank Canal in Bijapur district. His company RNS Motors established automobile showrooms for Maruti Udyog in Hubli in 1995 and in Bangalore in 1998. ==Philanthropy==

Shetty undertook philanthropic activities through the R. N. Shetty Trust, including primary and high schools, an engineering college, a nursing school, and a rural polytechnic, across Murudeshwar and Bangalore. The trust also operated hospitals and undertook rural education programs in Karnataka. Shetty was credited with the modernisation of the temple town of Murudeshwara and transforming it into a tourist attraction. were built using funding from Shetty. Image:Murdeshwar temple gopuram.jpg|The Gopuram in Murudeshwara Image:Shiva Statue Murdeshwara Temple.jpg|The Shiva statue in Murudeshwara ==Awards and recognition==

Bangalore University awarded an Honorary Doctorate to Shetty in 2009 and in 2004 he received the Visvesvaraya Memorial Award from the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He was a recipient of the Karnataka Government's Rajyotsava award in 2004. , Bangalore == Personal life ==

Shetty was married to Sudha Shetty and had three sons and four daughters. ==References==