Late Msgr Fred Pereira, Vinay Hegde, Chosen IIPP Outstanding Leaders

Anita Cordeiro and Fr Denzil Lobo

USA, Jul 29: The late Msgr Fred Pereira and Vinay Hegde have been chosen for this year's International Institute for Public Policy (IIPP) outstanding leaders award for their contribution to the fields of communication and education, respectively.

IIPP is a solely subsidized family forum created in order to recognize outstanding leaders in and around Mangalore, each year.

A formal award ceremony will be held in Mangalore at the Beeri Campus of St Aloysius College in due course as and when Max Rasquinha, founder-chairman of IIPP and his wife Jessy Rasquinha are able to visit Mangalore next. In addition to the prestigious Awards, the founders of IIPP have also come forward to handover a cash scholarship of Rs 25,000 each to be given to the needy and qualified engineering student of St Josephs Engineering College at Vamanjoor, as well as a qualified engineering student of Nitte Engineering College in honour of the Award recipients. The selection of the qualified candidates for the scholarship will be determined in accordance with the rules and regulations laid out by IIPP as well as by the respective engineering colleges.

The founder members of IIPP, situated in the USA, are keen observers and admirers of some of the accomplishments that are taking place in their homeland, Mangalore, and of the positive developments that relate to their community and the society. These positive and noteworthy accomplishments from these outstanding individuals have a direct impact on the people of Mangalore, all over the world. These distinguished individuals, through their continuous talents, efforts and sacrifices render a noble contribution that has long reaching benefits for Mangalore and India.

The main objective of the International Institute for Public Policy therefore is to create a distinct awareness that we as a family witness the societal progress with a neutral eye and therefore prepare to recognize them once a year, so that the selfless deeds of distinguished individuals can be unfolded through a public proclamation.

Late Msgr Fred Pereira

Late Msgr Fred Pereira was one of the first ones to follow the priesthood from Valencia parish. His outstanding services to the Diocese has been magnanimous indeed. Msgr Fred was a great communicator, an able organizer and also a capable leader in his own calibre. Msgr Fred brought people of all backgrounds in Mangalore together and linked many people with each other in order to make so many things possible. Although Msgr Fred has gone for his heavenly rewards, his dedications to the Catholic Community in particular will remain fresh and memorable for a long time to come.

Msgr Fredrick V Pereira, the former Vicar General of the Diocese of Mangalore was born on September 12, 1936 at Valencia to Aloysius Pereira. He reached his heavenly abode when he was 74 years of age and of them 49 years were led in Priestly life. He was ordained a priest on Dec 4, 1961.

After his ordination he served as assistant Parish Priest at Milagres Church, Mangalore. Then served as the Secretary of the Bishop of Mangalore for some years before he went to Rome for his Doctoral studies in moral theology from the Urbanian University of Rome. After his studies he returned to the Bishop’s House as chancellor and secretary to the Bishop of Mangalore.

He served as the Parish Priest of Cathedral for 8 years and Parish Priest of Madanthyar for 9 years.

As Parish Priest of Madanthyar and Correspondent of the Madanthyar Educational Institutions he successfully completed the Sacred Heart College project and houses for the poor in Madanthyar. As the parish priest of Madanthyar along with Fr Robert Crasta the College Principal they came up with a program called ‘earn while you learn’ for the needy students..

He served as the Parish Priest of Urwa for 4 years and was later appointed as the second Diocesan Rector of St Joseph’s Inter Diocesan Seminary Jeppu where he served for 5 years. From 2003-08 he served as the successful Vicar General of the Diocese of Mangalore. After a yearlong service as the Director of St Antony’s Charitable Institutions Jeppu he served as the campus minister for a year in St Joseph’s Engineering College, Vamanjoor. Since 2010 due to his poor health, he was on medical leave and residing at St Anthony’s Senior Priest’s home..

Fr Fred Pereira has worked relentlessly for the upliftment of the Parish, the college and the school at Madanthyar. If Fr Liguory Dsouza is called the architect of modern Madanthyar Fr Fred V. Pereira is named as the ‘Builder of Modern Madanthyar’. To mark the contribution of Fr Fred, the hall that was built by Fr Robert Crasta, is named Fr Fred V Pereira auditorium.

According to Dr Aloysius Paul Dsouza the Bishop of Mangalore Fr Fred was a committed & dedicated Priest of the Diocese of Mangalore.

Msgr Fred breathed his last on February 27, 2011 at Fr Muller’s hospital.

Vinay Hegde

Vinay Hegde's contribution as an individual and also as a member of the renowned family of Mangalore is worthy of recognition. His unitiring efforts towards enhancing the educational values in Mangalore, specially through the Nitte Engineering College are fully evidenced by the intellectual growth and prosperity of hundreds of students that have turned out to be successful citizens of our great nation. Nitte Engineering College has recently associated themselves with Penn State University in the USA which gesture obviously speaks a thousand words on the forward looking vision of Vinay Hegde towards India's focus on improved educational standards.

Born on April 3, 1939, Vinay Hegde is the second son of Justice K. S. Hegde and Meenakshi Hegde. His father Justice K.S. Hegde, a respected judge of Supreme Court and also the speaker of Lok Sabha Hegde had his early education at St Aloysius College, Mangalore and a BSc degree from St Joseph’s College, Bangalore. Then after a stint at Canara Workshops Ltd., Hegde was all set to get into the world of entrepreneurship. In 1975 Hegde’s dreams materialized in the form of his flagship enterprise Lamina Suspension Products Ltd. With tremendous zeal coupled with hard work and inspired team effort, he systematically built - almost from scratch - two organizations, one an industrial enterprise and the other an educational organization. Well-read and widely travelled, Vinay Hegde is happily married to Sujata. They have two children, daughter Ashwita R Punja and son Vishal, who has faithfully followed his father’s footsteps, assisting him in business.

Even at the age of 70, instead of contemplating retirement, Hegde is bubbling with enthusiasm for more activity. His Lamina group of companies, which manufactures automotive components, account for a turnover of over Rs 100 crores and employ more than 2,000 people. The group has an export turnover in excess of Rs 70 crores to countries like Germany, USA, UK, Korea, Finland, Belgium and others.

Even as he was engaged in building his industrial enterprises, Hegde also found time to actualise yet another long cherished desire - to contribute to society through education. Thus in 1979, Nitte Education Trust was established. In the next 25 years it had grown into the largest educational organization of DK. Today the trust has under it, a string of twenty two institutions covering the entire educational spectrum - from schools to pre­ university and first grade colleges to polytechnic to professional colleges like engineering, medical, dental, pharmaceutical, nursing and hotel management spread over three campuses: Nitte, Mangalore and Bangalore. There are more than 8000 students studying in these institutions, which employ more than 1000 people.

Not one to rest on his laurels, he has used his wealth for social good. Taking a great interest in rural development, he has been personally supervising several rural uplift projects. These include running 14 rural hospitals, financial support to poor students and projects for women’s empowerment

Among Hegde’s greatest qualities, is his humility. You will never hear him blowing his own trumpet. As a result of this team building ability, he has been able to attract a great many talents to work with him in creating wealth for the community.

Chancellor of Nitte University, his responsibility in carrying forward the torch of education and enlightenment has increased further. Today, N Vinay Hegde stands as one of the leading entrepreneurs of the region.