death_date children constituency_mp nationality birth_date term_end alma_mater death_place profession order term_start spouse image name predecessor birth_place president party office successor religion primeminister article_title
1 november 1996 ravi jayewardene kelaniya colombo south colombo west sri lanka sri lankan 17 september 1906 2 9 september 1979 20 july 1960 13 october 1953 20 january july 1960 10 april 1956 21 july 1977 4 february 1989 1978 4 february 1978 18 may 1977 colombo royal college , colombo , bishop 's college colombo law college , university college , colombo , colombo , sri lanka statesmen , advocate 2nd non-aligned movement minister of finance prime minister of sri lanka secretary general of 4 4 february 1978 24 april 1960 26 september 1947 19 february march 1960 14 october 1947 20 july 1960 21 july 1978 1977 23 july 1977 7 june 1970 elina jayewardene -lrb- nee rupasinghe -rrb- j. r. jayewardene.jpg junius richard jayewardene william gopallawa oliver ernest goonetilleke r.g. senanayake edmund samarawickrema constituency created gopallawa sirimavo ratwatte dias bandaranaike sirimavo bandaranaike william colombo -rrb- , british ceylon -lrb- now in sri lanka william gopallawa united national party president of sri lanka leader of the opposition ranasinghe de zoysa oliver ernest goonetilleke r.s. perera r.g. senanayake constituency premadasa abolished anura bastian ranasinghe premadasa a. amirthalingam fidel castro stanley theravada buddhism ranasinghe dudley senanayake premadasa sirimavo bandaranaike dudley senanayake don stephen senanayake j. r. jayewardene

j. r. jayewardene

junius richard jayewardene -lrb- , ; 17 september 1906 -- 1 november 1996 -rrb- , famously abbreviated in sri lanka as jr , was the leader of sri lanka from 1977 to 1989 , serving as prime minister from 1977 to 1978 and as 2nd president of sri lanka from 1978 till 1989 .
he was a leader of the nationalist movement in ceylon -lrb- now sri lanka -rrb- who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence .
a longtime member of the united national party , he led it to a crushing victory in 1977 and served as prime minister for half a year before becoming the country 's first executive president under an amended constitution .
