37 Facts About Upali Wijewardene

Philip Upali Wijewardene was a Sri Lankan business magnate and entrepreneur.

In 1983, Wijewardene had a net worth of US $50 million.

Upali Wijewardene was the founder and chairman of Upali Group, the first multi-national business in Sri Lanka.

Upali Wijewardene Group has businesses in the US, UK, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Upali Wijewardene was presumed dead on 13 February 1983, when his private Learjet disappeared over the Straits of Malacca soon after leaving Malaysia en route to Colombo.

Upali Wijewardene was born on 17 February 1938, at his paternal grandmother's house in Sri Ramya, Colombo, to Don Walter Tudugalle Upali Wijewardene and Anula Kalyanawathie Wijesinghe.

Upali Wijewardene lost his father when he was eighteen months old, and was raised by his mother in the family home Sedawatte Walawwe in Kolonnawa.

The Upali Wijewardene family had made its money by supplying timber for construction in the city of Colombo.

Upali Wijewardene's paternal uncle, Don Richard Wijewardena, was a press baron, and his cousin JR Jayewardene became the second President of Sri Lanka, serving from 1978 to 1989.

Ray Upali Wijewardene, a cousin, was an engineer, aviator, inventor, and Olympic athlete.

Upali Wijewardene moved into a house on Thurstan Road, designed by Geoffrey Bawa, which included a helipad for his private helicopter.

Upali Wijewardene owned a country house, Sunnycroft Bungalow, in Nuwara Eliya.

Upali Wijewardene held the position of Basnayake Nilame at the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, a temple that had been supported by his family.

An amateur racing enthusiast, Upali Wijewardene participated in races with his mother's Opel Kapitan at the Katukurunde Races in the early 1960s.

Upali Wijewardene attended Ladies' College, Colombo, along with his two older sisters.

Upali Wijewardene studied economics at Queens College, Cambridge from 1956 to 1959, earning a BA degree.

On his return to Ceylon in 1959, Upali Wijewardene joined the British manufacturing company Lever Brothers as a management trainee and was assigned the responsibility of overseeing soap processing.

Upali Wijewardene ventured into business by setting up a confectionary company and establishing a candy ball machine on his property on Bloemendaal Road.

Upali Wijewardene later expanded the business and branded it 'Delta Toffee'.

In 1970, after the passing of his maternal uncle, senator Sarath Chandradasa Wijesinghe, Upali Wijewardene assumed control of the 'Ceylon Chocolates Company'.

Upali Wijewardene expanded the 'Kandos chocolates' brand from a domestic to an international market, and with the help of a friend, Ratnam, he cultivated 14,000 acres of cocoa in Malaysia.

Upali Wijewardene began soap manufacturing, introducing the brands Crystal and Tingle Sikuru.

Upali Wijewardene started the Upali Electronic Company in the 1970s, introducing radios, calculators, wall clocks, air-conditioners and television sets.

Upali Wijewardene used his aircraft to deliver newspapers to remote areas such as Anuradhapura and Jaffna.

In 1980, Upali Wijewardene travelled to Silicon Valley and signed five agreements, including one with Motorola.

Upali Wijewardene was influential in restarting horse racing at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course.

Upali Wijewardene was the chairman of the board of stewards of the Sri Lanka Turf Club and raced in Sri Lanka and England, where his horse "Rasa Penang" won the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot, ridden by the world-famous jockey Lester Piggott.

Upali Wijewardene raced "General Atty" too, who won many races in England.

Upali Wijewardene would fly to the races in his private aircraft, and made it a point to fly from Newmarket Racecourse in England to Nuwara Eliya Racecourse in Sri Lanka to watch his horses and ponies racing.

In 1978, Upali Wijewardene was appointed by President JR Jayewardene as the first director general of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission, which subsequently evolved into the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

Upali Wijewardene worked to attract foreign investment to develop local industries in the new open economy.

Upali Wijewardene formed free trade zones in Katunayake, Biyagama and Koggala.

Upali Wijewardene set up an organization called 'Ruhunu Udanaya' and worked to create opportunities for young people in Kamburupitiya and the surrounding areas to learn English and computer technology.

Upali Wijewardene, a licensed pilot, travelled on a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport as chairman of the GCEC.

Upali Wijewardene owned a private jet, a Learjet 35A, which he had modified with another controller for the rear body.

Upali Wijewardene's plane took off from Kuala Lumpur at 8:41 pm on 13 February 1983, bound for Colombo.

Rumours later circulated that Upali Wijewardene was to have been named the minister of finance by president JR Jayewardene the next day, on his return to Colombo.