Upali Wijewardene

Philip Upali Wijewardene (Sinhala:

; 17 February 1938 13 February

1983) was a Sri Lankan business magnate. Considered
one of best known entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka, he was
the founder and Chairman of Upali Group the rst
multi-national business in Sri Lanka.
The Upali Group which diversied from confectionery
to electronics and automobile manufacturing, publishing,
print media, leisure and aviation developed many of its
own brands such as Kandos, Delta, Unic, Upali Air, Upali
Mazda and Upali Newspapers which Insight Magazine
UK said was achieved largely through bravado and wit.
He was presumed dead on 13 February 1983 when his
private Learjet disappeared soon after leaving Malaysia
en rout to Colombo over the Straits of Malacca.

Early life

Born to a wealthy family from Kelaniya, his father was

Don Walter Tudugalle Wijewardene who died when he
was 18 months old. Upali was brought up by his mother
Anula Kalyanawathie Wijewardene at the family home
Sedawatte Walawwe. He had two sisters, Anoja Wijesundera and Kalyani Attygalle
He attended Royal College, Colombo and later graduated
from Queens College at Cambridge University in England. Returning to Sri Lanka, Wijewardene became a Upali Wijewardana as a young child
management trainee at Lever Brothers where he was in
charge of soap processing. He left Levers and venture
out on his own and founded the Upali Group of Companies during the mid 1960s after his uncle Senator Sarath
Chandradasa Wijesinghe gave him substantial shares of
his Ceylon Chocolates Company.[1]
women crammed into 16 pages. It quickly expanded
into 32 pages with a dierent story on every page. Editor
Janaka Ratnayake noted that the publication had many
topicsromance, detective, sci-, heroes, two pages built
2.1 Comics
around movie stars, and almost a page of pen pal (1993).
serialised and in black and white with
Wijewardene entered the comics business with Chithra All the stories were [2]
a
spot
of
one
color.
Mithra in February 1981 because it oered a large market to begin a publication without advertising and al- The comic magazine fell apart after Wijewardenes death
lowed him to test his printing presses. Within a few and ceased publication in 1986 with a circulation of
months, the magazine reached a circulation of 200,000 15,000. Ratnayake cited the failure of the magazine to
eclipsing its competitors Sittara (100,000) and Sathuta Wijewardenes early death, sub-standard printing quality
(75,000). Media initially described the magazine as ro- of the paper due to unskilled mechanics and competition
mance, booze, money, travel, dreams, adventure, wild from other magazines.[2]

Business ventures

2.2

Horse Racing

Upali Wijewardene was inuential in restarting horse

racing at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course. He was the
chairman Board of Stewards of the Sri Lanka Turf Club
and was a keen turte, who raced in Sri Lanka and
England, where he won the Royal Ascot with Rasa
Penang ridden by the world famous jockey Lester Piggott.
In 1980 he also won the Singapore Derby at the Bukit
Timah Race Course in Singapore and the Perak Derby at
the Perak Turf Club in Malaysia with his horse, named
Vaaron. He raced General Atty too and won many
races in England. He ew to all these countries where
his horses were racing, in his private aircraft. He made
it a point to y from Newmarket Racecourse in England
to Nuwara Eliya Racecourse in Sri Lanka to watch his
horses and ponies racing there.
He would land in Katunayake Airport and make a quick
tarmac change to his private helicopter to y to Nuwara
Eliya. Wijewardene was responsible for reviving pony
racing and thereafter, horse racing during the time there
was a lull in racing
A British journalist, Matt Miller, described him in Insight Magazine: Largely through bravado and wit, Philip
Upali Wijewardene parlayed a bankrupt confectionery
plant into Sri Lankas only multi national business group
and one of Asias leading cocoa based products conglomerates. Intriguingly he accomplished his overseas empirebuilding at a time when his country strictly prohibited the
export of currency. And now the 43-year-old commodity
wizard (this was 1981) has started what could be Upalis
Third Plan... He would be willing, he says with uncharacteristic restraint, to become Sri Lankas president someday.

EXTERNAL LINKS

steward S. Senenakye. Fifteen minutes later, the aircraft disappeared while ying over the Straits of Malacca.
Extensive search operation by air and naval units of Sri
Lanka, India, United States, Soviet Union, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia failed to locate any evidence of a
crash.[3]

5 Private life
Upali Wijewardene was a cousin of President J. R.
Jayewardene[1] and he married Lakmini Ratwatte, daughter of Dr Seevali Ratwatte in 1975. She is the granddaughter of Barnes Ratwatte Dissawa and niece of
Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
He was the Basnayake Nilame (Chief Lay Custodian)
of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara which had been supported by his family.[1]

6 See also
List of people who disappeared mysteriously
Upali Air

7 References
[1] Philip Upali Wijewardene whose vision embraced the
world:
[2] Lent, John (2001). Illustrating Asia: Comics, Humor Magazines and Pictures Books. University of Hawaii Press.
ISBN 0-8248-2471-7.
[3] MH370 plane search revives Sri Lankan missing jet mystery

Government

In 1978 Upali Wijewardene was appointed by President

J. R. Jayewardene as the rst chairman/Director General
of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC)
(now known as the Board of Investment) of Sri Lanka.
In this position Wijewardene worked to attract foreign
investment to develop local industries in the new open
economy. He formed Free Trade Zones in Katunayake,
Biyagama and Koggala.

8 External links
Jayes nephew with 5 in missing Learjet (Articles +
Illustrations) Page 1, NST, The Straites Times, Singapore on 15 February 1983
6 Nations join search for Upali Page 1, The Straites
Times, Singapore on 16 February 1983
The Wijewardene Ancestry

Disappearance

On 13 February 1983, his private jet, a Learjet 35A, took

o from Kuala Lumpur at 8:41 pm, bound for Colombo.
On board with him were his Malaysian lawyer S.M. Ratnam, Upali Group Director Ananda Peli Muhandiram,
pilot Capt. Noel Anandappa, co-pilot Sydney Soysa, and

Upali Wijewardene rare business genius

Malaysian plane revives memories of Upali Wijewardene who disappeared

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Upali Wijewardene Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upali%20Wijewardene?oldid=648205585 Contributors: Moriori, Timrollpickering, Woohookitty, Daniel Case, Tabletop, Rjwilmsi, Bgwhite, Wavelength, Grafen, Closedmouth, SmackBot, OrphanBot, Racklever,
Ohconfucius, RomanSpa, Aeranga, CmdrObot, Todowd, Lee, Epbr123, Handicapper, Waacstats, Rettetast, Dan arndt, BlueLotusLK,
J.delanoy, Maproom, Mohonu, Nitraven, Brenont, ImageRemovalBot, Fitz Mackins, Lankadeepa, AnomieBOT, Blackknight12, Cossde,
Obi2canibe, Ukussa, Major Keith, Full-date unlinking bot, PrinceRegentLuitpold, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, MediaJet,
Hmainsbot1, Martinillo, Cantab12, UESgirl18, Kalu Ukussa, Jodosma, L Manju and Anonymous: 33

9.2

Images

File:Upali_Wijewardana_As_A_Kid.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Upali_Wijewardana_As_A_

Kid.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Divaina (Upali Tabloid) 13/02/1993 Original artist: Unknown

9.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0