M. A. Muthiah Chettiar

Sir Muthiah Annamalai Muthiah Chettiar, Rajah of Chettinad KCSI (5 August 1905 – 12 May 1984) better known as Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar was an Indian Industrialist, banker, politician, philanthropist, and cultural activist who served as First Mayor of Madras city and Minister of Excise and Education (1936–37) in the provincial government of Madras Presidency.

Muthiah Chettiar was holder of the hereditary title Kumar-rajah (1929–48) and later, Rajah of Chettinad (1948–84).

His father Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar was also a famous educationist and founder of the Annamalai University in the town of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. He was also the third Nattukottai Chettiar to be knighted; the first two were his nephew and father. The government of Tamil Nadu honoured him with the title Tamil Isai Kavalar.

In politics He earned the reputation of being a sensitive Parliamentarian, impartial and balanced, as a leader of the opposition in 1939 and when he held charge of Local Administration and Hindu Religious Endowments. He was the first Mayor of Chennai (then called Madras) when the mayoralty was reinstated for the Corporation of Chennai in 1933. The mayoralty had been earlier removed in 1792, when the act made Madras a municipality. In 1946 he was elected member of the Constituent Assembly at New Delhi. He also had the rare honour of hosting a lunch in the Chettinad House for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. The government of India bestowed on him Padma Bhushan in 1973, and the Tamil Nadu government honoured him with the "Tamil Isai Kavalar" title in 1979. New York World University awarded an honorary doctorate to him in 1982. He died on 12 May 1984 in Madras leaving an impressive record of interests and achievements. The Indian government honoured him with a postal stamp issued on his memory on 21 December 1987.