Reggie Padmasena Ranatunga (22 April 1937 – 31 May 2008) was a Sri Lankan politician belonging to the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties from the 1950s to the 2010s, serving as the main rival of the c ...

. He was the third

Governor of Sabaragamuwa __NOTOC__ The governor of Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the ...

, serving between June 2005 and February 2008. Reggie Padmasena Rantunga was born on 22 April 1937 and was educated at Nalanda College, Minuwangoda and

Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte Ananda Sastralaya ( sinhala: ආනන්ද ශාස්ත්‍රාලය) is a public boys school located in Kotte, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1890 as Kotte Buddhist English Mixed School. In 1952 a part of the school land was designated b ...

. Ranatunga's interest in politics resulted in his enrollment at the Moscow Faculty of Political Science in 1960. In 1962 he joined the

and was appointed the SLFP Organizer for

Minuwangoda Minuwangoda (, ) is a town in Gampaha district, governed by an Urban Council, situated near Negombo, Western Province of Sri Lanka. It is located east of Negombo and north east of Colombo. It is an important junction town, connecting the Negom ...

in 1986. At the 1989 parliamentary elections he was first elected to parliament representing

Gampaha Gampaha (Sinhala: ගම්පහ ; Tamil: கம்பஹா ) is an urban city in Gampaha District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is situated to the north-east of the capital Colombo. It is the sixth largest urban area in Western Provinc ...

and was subsequently re-elected in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. He served as the Minister for Civil Aviation (August – October 2000) and Minister of Food and Marketing Development (October 2000 – 2001) in the Kumaratunga cabinet, and the

Chief Government Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

between 1 November 2000 and 10 October 2001. He is the father of six sons, including former international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ers,

Arjuna Ranatunga Deshamanya Arjuna Ranatunga (; ; born 1 December 1963), is a Sri Lankan politician and former cricketer, who was the 1996 Cricket World Cup winning captain for Sri Lanka, and scored the winning boundary in the final. He is regarded as the pion ...

and

Sanjeeva Ranatunga Sanjeeva Ranatunga (born 25 April 1969) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played in 9 Test matches and 13 One Day Internationals from 1994 to 1997. Family He is the brother of former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga Deshamanya Arjun ...

, along with Dammika Ranatunga,

Nishantha Ranatunga Nishantha Ranatunga (born 22 January 1966) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played two One Day Internationals in 1993. An all-rounder of note in domestic cricket, he is the brother of former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanjeeva Ranatu ...

Prasanna Ranatunga Prasanna Ranatunga (born 1 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician, former member of parliament, a former Minister of Urban Development and Housing. He was also appointed as the Chief Government Whip on 18 April 2022. He was the 7th Chief Mi ...

, and

Ruwan Ranatunga Ruwan Ranatunga (born 20 October 1971) is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He belongs to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded ...

. On 21 February 2008 he was appointed as the MP for

replacing

Sripathi Sooriyarachchi Sripathi Sooriyarachchi (8 September 1962 – 9 February 2008) was a Sri Lankan politician, member of parliament, lawyer and former wrestling champion. He was fired from his cabinet position after he accused Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapa ...

, who was killed in a car accident on 9 February, however Ranatunga died on 31 May 2008. His replacement

Neil Rupasinghe Don Jayawickramage Neil Rupasinghe (Don Jayawickramage Neel Rupasinghe) is a Sri Lankan politician, a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී � ...

was sworn in on 6 June 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranatunga, Reggie Padmasena Alumni of Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte 2008 deaths 1937 births Chief Government Whips (Sri Lanka) Cabinet ministers of Sri Lanka Governors of Sabaragamuwa Province Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 10th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 11th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians Sri Lankan Buddhists