Ronnie de Mel
Ronald Joseph Godfrey de Mel, CCS is a Sri Lankan politician, Born: 11 April 1925. civil servant and Senior Adviser to President. He was Cabinet Minister of Finance from 1977 to 1988 United National Party government and was instrumental in the establishment of the free market economy in Sri Lanka. He was a Member of Parliament from the Matara District in the Parliament of Sri Lanka until 2004.
Born to Rodget de Mel and Gladys Mendis, he studied at the St Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia and graduated from the University of Ceylon having majored in English, Latin, Greek and History. He joined the Ceylon Civil Service in 1948, and was appointed as Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.
Resigning from Civil Service in 1967, he entered politics and was elected to parliament from Devinuwara from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the 1970 general election. He was re-elected in the 1977 general election from Devinuwara from the United National Party.
Ronnie de Mel presided over a most significant period of Sri Lankan history, during the Presidency of J. R. Jayewardene. "If not the free market economy we would still be having scarcities, queues and we would be struggling like North Korea today. It was because of this change that everything in this country blossomed and developed." He was instrumental in raising funds for projects such as Victoria, Randenigala, Kotmale, Ports, Roads, Housing and Free Trade Zones The minister also tried his utmost to curb the July 83 riots
He married Mallika Lakshmi de Mel née Fernando, daughter of Sir Leo Fernando.
