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Upali Wijewardene remembered with pooja at Kelaniya temple, other events
View(s):The 43rd anniversary of the disappearance of one of Sri Lanka’s most high-profile business entreprenuers of yesteryear, Upali Wijewardene, who went missing while on a flight from Malaysia to Colombo in his private Lear jet was marked on Friday at the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara with a Bodhi Pooja and Pahan Pooja organised by the Upali Group of Companies which he founded.
Several other events were also organised to commemorate the day, including scholarships to children from the Helena Wijewardene Maha Vidyalaya, Kelaniya, alms giving to inmates of the Elders Home at Mulgampola, Kandy, and the Children’s Home at Ja-Ela, religious ceremonies at the Ceylon Chocolates factory premises, Vidya Niketah Piriven Viharaya, Sapugoda, Kamburupitiya, Maha Saman Devalaya, Ratnapura, and a Holy Mass at Mattakkuliya. 
Among the others aboard the ill-fated flight were Ananda Pelimuhandiram, a Turnour scholar at Royal College and financial director of Upali Group, S M Ratnam, lawyer and Chairman of Upali (Malaysia), Capt Noel Anandappa (pilot), Capt Sydney De Zoysa (co-pilot) and A Senanayake, steward.
Mr Wijewardene also founded the Upali Newspapers (Divaina and Island), owned the Kandos chocolate empire and owned race horses. He was one-time chairman of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission that started the free trade zones, the precursor to the current Board of Investment.
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