Deshamanya Deshamanya (; ; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a civil honour. It is awarded for "''highly meritorious service''", and is conventionally used as a title or prefi ...

Felix Stanley Christopher Perera Kalpage (died 2000) was a

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 Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n academic and statesman. He was a member of the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the Parliament of Ceylon, parliament of Dominion of Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It ...

, the

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the Ministry of Higher Education, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India (1989–1991) and its Permanent Representative to the UN (1991–1994). Educated at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (abbreviated as STC), is a fee-levying Anglican selective entry boys' private school in Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by James Chapman, the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in 1851, it was founded as ...

, he graduated from the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

with a degree in chemistry and gained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Agricultural Chemistry from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. Joining the University of Ceylon as a lecturer, he went on to head the department of agricultural chemistry. In 1965 he was appointed to the Senate, when

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...

was Prime Minister. From 1974 to 1977 he served as Professor of Soil Science at the

University of Malaya The Universiti Malaya (lit 'University of Malaya'; abbreviated UM) is a public university, public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest Malaysian institution of higher education, and was the only university in ...

. Returning to Sri Lanka in 1977, he was appointed as Permanent Secretary of the newly formed Ministry of Higher Education. Soon after he was appointed as the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission and served in this capacity till 1989. During this time Ruhuna University College and Batticaloa University College were established and upgraded to university status. In 1989, he was appointed as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India and from 1991 to 1994 he served as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. In 1993 Kalpage was awarded the title

from the Government of Sri Lanka. He was married to Chitranganie, and had two sons, Sanjay and Pravin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalpage, Stanley 2000 deaths Members of the Senate of Ceylon Sri Lankan politicians Sinhalese people Sri Lankan academics Permanent representatives of Sri Lanka to the United Nations High commissioners of Sri Lanka to India Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of the University of Ceylon Alumni of the University of London Academic staff of the University of Ceylon Academic staff of the University of Malaya Deshamanya

See also

References