Denis Perera General Deshamanya Joseph Everard Denis Perera , VSV , FCMI , ndc , psc , SLE ( 10 October 1930 - 11 August 2013 ) was a Sri Lankan general , military engineer and a diplomat who served as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army from 1977 to 1981 . He was also the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia , Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Ceylon Tobacco Company . He is the current Chancellor of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University Early life and family . Born to Mudaliyar Maurice Perera and his wife Trisette , he was the youngest in the family with an elder sister and was educated at St Peter ' s College , Colombo . He is married to Ranjini Perera and has three sons : Kavan , Dinesh and Druvi . His eldest son , Kavan Perera , is married to Dushyanthi " nee " Seneviratne the daughter of General Nalin Seneviratne and the have two daughters , Kamani and Dayani . His second son is married to Shakila Chandratilleke , and they have three sons , like Denis himself , Shanil , Chalana and Meshan . His youngest son , Druvi , is married to Tanojie Samarasinghe and they have two sons Avindra and Shivendra . His grandsons often show keen interest in joining the army themselves . Denis and Ranjani adore their grandchildren , who now live all over the world . Military career . Joining the newly formed Ceylon army on his 19th birthday , he received his training at the Royal Military Academy , Sandhurst , and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Army . Thereafter served for some time with a unit of the British Army of the Rhine . On his return he was stationed at the Diyatalawa garrison , taking part in the formation of the new engineering unit and later moved to the newly built Panagoda Cantonment in 1953 , where the Ceylon Engineers was formed in 1957 . In 1957 he attended the Royal School of Military Engineering and 1961 he graduated from the British Army ’ s Staff College , Camberley . During his career he had been attached to several Sri Lankan High Commissions and had been the Military Attaché of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London for three years . He was the Commandant of the Army Training Centre from 1969 to 1972 during the 1971 Insurrection and served as Commander , Southern Command . He had served as the Chief of Staff prior to being appointed as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army in 1977 , as the youngest officer to be promoted to the post at age of 46 and first engineering officer . He would hold this post till 1981 when he retired from the army with rank of Lieutenant General . During is turner as the army commander , he play pivotal role in establishing the Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy ( KDA ) after receiving Kandawala from Sir John Kotelawala to establish a defence University . For establishing the KDA , he was made a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute of the United Kingdom and the Institute of Management of Sri Lanka . KDA awarded him a Doctor of Letters ( Honoris Causa ) and he was made its first Chancellor a post he currently holds . He was the first office to be awarded the Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya ( VSV ) for over 25 years of distinguished service in the army in 1980 after military honors were reconsitiuted in Sri Lanka , his other medals include the Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal , Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal , Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal and the President ' s Inauguration Medal . Later years . Following his retirement from the army he lived a very active life , he was appointed Sri Lanka ’ s High Commissioner to Australia – which also include accreditation to New Zealand , Papua New Guinea and Fiji . He was the Chairman ( non - executive ) of the Securities & Exchange Commission , Ceylon Tobacco Company , Blackwood Hodge Engineering and GTE Directories Lanka . He founded the Association Of Retired Flag Rank Officers in which he continues to be very active ; he was the President of the National Rifle Association and the Sri Lanka Badminton Foundation ; and a committee member of the Sports Shooting Association . In 2000 he was awarded the title of Deshamanya by the Sri Lankan government , and in 2007 promoted to the rank of General .