Upali Wijewardene

Philip Upali Wijewardene (17 February 1938–13 February 1983: උපාලි විජේවර්ධන) was a Sri Lankan business magnate and entrepreneur.

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

He was the youngest and only son; he had two older sisters, Anoja and Kalyani.

The Wijewardene family was from Kelaniya.

His grandfather, Muhandiram Don Phillip Wijeywardene, a timber merchant, founded the family business that his father later joined.

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

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

They reinvested their profits in various ventures, including real estate, ultimately becoming influential in local politics.

He pursued a degree in economics at Queens College, Cambridge in 1956, and successfully completed his studies in 1959, earning a BA degree.

During the time at Cambridge, he held the position of secretary within the Marshall Society.

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

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

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

Afterwards, he enrolled at Royal College, Colombo and later attended St John's School, Leatherhead.

Upali Wijewardana founded the Upali Group of Companies in the mid-1960s, consolidating his holdings and forming a conglomerate of companies.

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

However, he left Lever Brothers in 1961 due to a disagreement with its British Chairman.

He ventured into the business by setting up a confectionary business and establishing a candy ball machine on his property along Bloemendaal Road.

He later expanded the business and branded it as a 'Delta Toffee'.

In the aviation sector, he founded Upali Air in 1968.

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

He expanded the 'Kandos chocolates' brand from a domestic to an international market.

With the help of one of his friends Ratnam, he cultivated 14,000 acres of cocoa in Malaysia.

During the transition of the business, he acquired cocoa plantations, processing plants, and factories in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

However, its operations started in the late 1970s with several aircraft for private, domestic and international flights.

He started the Upali Electronic Company in the 1970s, introducing Unic radios, calculators, wall clocks, Air-conditioners and NEC TVs.

On November 7, 1975, Upali married Lakmini Ratwatte, daughter of Dr. Seevali Ratwatte, brother of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Lakmini is the granddaughter of Barnes Ratwatte Dissawa.

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

He also owned a country house, the Sunnycroft Bungalow, in Nuwara Eliya.

He held the position of Basnayake Nilame (chief lay custodian) at the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, a temple that had been supported by his family.

Upali's paternal uncle, Don Richard Wijewardena, was the press baron, and his cousin J. R. Jayewardene assumed the role of the second President of Sri Lanka, serving from 1978 to 1989.

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

His sister Anoja married Stanley Wijesundera, a professor of chemistry, and he was the first vice-chancellor of the University of Colombo, while his other sister Kalyani married Dr. G.M. Attygalle.

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

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

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

The Upali Group diversified from confectionery to electronics, automobile manufacturing, publishing, print media, leisure, and aviation.

It developed many brands, including Kandos, Delta, Unic, Upali Air, Upali Mazda and Upali Newspapers, which Insight Magazine UK said was achieved "largely through bravado and wit."

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