Ravi Jayewardene passes away

Capt. Ravindra Vimal Jayewardene, the only son of the late President J. R. Jayewardene, passed away last afternoon after a brief illness. He was 80.

After his secondary education at Royal College, Colombo, Mr Jayewardene trained as an airline pilot and flew for Air Ceylon. He was also a reputed rifle shooter and marksman serving with the Ceylon Army holding the rank of Captain when he retired from service. He represented Sri Lanka in the 1964 Olympics in rifle shooting and at the Asian Games.

The body will lie in state at the Jayawardene Centre in Colombo from today(04). Cortege leaves at 3.30 pm on Thursday for cremation at the General Cemetery Borella

In 1971, the then Government of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike detained him briefly in jail for complicity in the 1971 JVP insurrection. He was never charged.

Soon thereafter, he left for Thailand and served a period as a novice Buddhist monk. Following the 1983 pogrom and as LTTE terrorism escalated, Ravi Jayewardene, on his return to Sri Lanka, took charge of his father’s personal security and held the post of National Security Adviser. During this period he established the Special Task Force (STF), the elite para military unit of the police which participated in several operations against the LTTE and in providing VIP security. Capt. Jayewardene was also instrumental in helping the creation of new regiments and the Civil Defence Force and a civilian Sath Sarana Foundation, which provided security and endured the well-being of villagers living in terrorism-prone areas especially of the Eastern Province. Capt. Jayewardene leaves behind his wife Penny and children Pradeep, Rukshan and Amrik.

The body will lie in state at the Jayawardene Centre in Colombo from today(04). Cortege leaves at 3.30 pm on Thursday for cremation at the General Cemetery Borella.