Mallory Evan Wijesinghe

Mallory Evan Wijesinghe
Mallory Evan Wijesinghe
Born	June 25, 1918; Entrepreneur

Mallory Evan Wijesinghe,

chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Bartleet Group and was the founding chairman of the state-owned Ceylon Hotels Corporation(1967–70).^[1]

Educated at the

Royal College Colombo, Wijesinghe obtained his B.Sc.(Eng) degree in Civil Engineering from King's College London

, and joined the Public Works Department in 1941 as a civil engineer. In 1956, he decided to leave his career in the public sector and join a privately held company involved in the tea trade.

In November 1958, Wijesinghe was appointed the first Ceylonese Director of Bartleet and Co. Ltd., a leading company in tea broking, and in the 1960s became the company's first Ceylonese Managing Director. In 1972, he led a trade delegation from Sri Lanka to Bangladesh and Pakistan during his tenure as the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

In 1973, Wijesinghe was appointed the Honorary

Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau

in 1985.

Wijesinghe was the founder chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (1960–71), Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (1964–70) and Chairman of the Colombo Brokers' Association (1960, 1965, 1970 and 1984). He was the founding President of the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (1970–77), and the President of the Institute of Management of Sri Lanka, which he was involved in establishing. Wijesinghe was popularly called 'Mr Private Sector' as a result of his extensive involvement in a multitude of positions and assignments involving the 'mercantile' sector of Ceylon, and later Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]}

A devoted Anglican, he was President of the

Queen Elizabeth II, the Sovereign Head of the Order. He also served as the Chairman of the Incorporated Trustees of the Church of England in Ceylon and a Trustee of the Royal College Union

Trust even during his latter period of retirement.

Mallory was married to Joyce Wijesinghe and had three children. His son Eraj is currently the Chairman of the Bartleet Group, younger son Sunil, an electronics engineer by profession, is the former Deputy Chairman of the Bartleet Group (now retired) and his only daughter Dr. (Mrs) Hiranthi Wijemanne, a qualified specialist in public health served in various capacities in both governmental and non-governmental organisations (formerly Programme Officer/UNICEF).

Books authored

The Economy of Sri Lanka 1948–75
Sri Lanka's Development Thrust 1977–80

Honors

The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau

References

^ Mallory Evan Wijesinghe:Touched hundreds of lives for the better Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine

[Mallory-1] Mallory Evan Wijesinghe:Touched hundreds of lives for the better Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine

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