SK: Doyen of the corporate world passes away
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S.K. Wickramasinghe
S.K. Wickramasinghe, popularly known as SK and one of Sri Lanka’s most accomplished and respected figures in the Sri Lankan business community, passed away last week.
Mr. Wickramasinghe had nearly 50 years of experience in the corporate field and had chaired some of Sri Lanka’s largest institutions, involved in almost every sector of the country’s economy such as banking, finance, agriculture, chemical, airline, investment banking, IT, manufacturing, tobacco, property development, consumer durables, plantation management, tourism and hospitality, and insurance.
The highlight of his distinguished career in the corporate world was serving as chairman of ICI Sri Lanka, part of a global chemical giant, which was later to be known in Sri Lanka as CIC, for nearly 30 years. He joined the company in the early 1950s, rapidly rising up the ladder to become its chairman.
According to his long-time friend, Sohli Captain, another giant in the business world, what Mr. Wickramasinghe enjoyed most was giving advice and encouraging young Sri Lankans on their future in the business world.
“He was an absolutely selfless person and a great human being just like the late D. S. Jayasundera, chairman of Hayleys who was in the same mould,” he recalled.
Samantha Ranatunga, a former Managing Director at CIC, said he made a great contribution to the business world particularly during the shift from British-led norms and values to the ‘Sri Lankanisation’ of business.
He was chairman of many companies including Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, National Development Bank Plc, Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc and Sri Lankan Airlines, and a director in many others.
From 1995-1999 he served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland. Mr. Wickramasinghe has also been a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC), on the Board of Governors of Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) and of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of the University of
Sri Jayewardenepura. He was also a Trustee of the Employers Federation
of Ceylon.
He was the eldest son of Sri Lanka’s revered author Martin Wickramasinghe and son-in-law of famed newspaper editor H.A.J. Hulugalle, being married to the latter’s daughter, Damayantha who predeceased him in 2011.
In recent years, he spent a lot of time as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust. He was also chairman of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation.