Reggie Ranatunga

Hon.
Reggie Ranatunga
Member of Parliament
for Gampaha District
In office
21 February 2008 – 31 May 2008
In office
1989–2004
3rd Governor of Sabaragamuwa
In office
June 2005 – February 2008
Preceded byC. N. Saliya Mathew
Succeeded byDickson Sarathchandra Dela
Personal details
Born(1937-04-22)22 April 1937
Sri Lanka
Died31 May 2008(2008-05-31) (aged 71)
Political partySri Lanka Freedom Party
Children

Reggie Padmasena Ranatunga (22 April 1937 – 31 May 2008)[1] was a Sri Lankan politician belonging to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. He was the third Governor of Sabaragamuwa, serving between June 2005 and February 2008.[2]

Reggie Padmasena Rantunga was born on 22 April 1937 and was educated at Nalanda College, Minuwangoda and Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte. Ranatunga's interest in politics resulted in his enrollment at the Moscow Faculty of Political Science in 1960. In 1962 he joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and was appointed the SLFP Organizer for Minuwangoda in 1986.[citation needed]

At the 1989 parliamentary elections he was first elected to parliament representing Gampaha and was subsequently re-elected in 1994, 2000 and 2001. He served as the Minister for Civil Aviation (August – October 2000)[3] and Minister of Food and Marketing Development (October 2000 – 2001) in the Kumaratunga cabinet,[4] and the Chief Government Whip between 1 November 2000 and 10 October 2001.[5]

He is the father of six sons, including former international cricketers, Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanjeeva Ranatunga, along with Dammika Ranatunga, Nishantha Ranatunga, Prasanna Ranatunga, and Ruwan Ranatunga.[6][7]

On 21 February 2008 he was appointed as the MP for Gampaha[8] replacing Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, who was killed in a car accident on 9 February, however Ranatunga died on 31 May 2008.[9] His replacement Neil Rupasinghe was sworn in on 6 June 2008.[10]

  1. ^ "Hon. Reggie Ranatunga, M.P." Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Sri Lankan Provinces from 1988". WorldStatesmen.org. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Former Ministers". Civil Aviation Authority – Sri Lanka. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  4. ^ "New cabinet sworn in today". Current Affairs. Policy Research and Information Unit, Presidential Secretariat. 19 October 2000. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Chief Government Whips". Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1989" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Former Lankan minister held in murder case". Rediff.com. 3 November 2001. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  8. ^ "Arjuna Ranatunga's father sworn in as MP". Hindustan Times. 21 February 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
  9. ^ "Reggie Ranatunga dies, funeral tomorrow". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 1 June 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  10. ^ Uditha Kumarasinghe and Sandasen Marasinghe (7 June 2008). "New MP for Gampaha". Daily News. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2009.