{"id":"j-r-jayewardene","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/j-r-jayewardene","language":"en","name":"J. R. Jayewardene","name_en":"J. R. Jayewardene","name_ne":null,"description":"President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989","headline":"President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Junius Richard Jayewardene, also known by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, who served as prime minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as president of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon and served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence. A longtime member of the United National Party, he led the party to a landslide victory in the 1977 parliamentary elections and served as prime minister for half a year before becoming the country's first executive president under an amended constitution.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"17 September 1906","date":"1906-09-17"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Colombo","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35381"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"1 November 1996","date":"1996-11-01"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Colombo","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35381"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Sri Lanka","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q854"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"cricketer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12299841"},{"text":"diplomat","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193391"},{"text":"politician","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82955"},{"text":"lawyer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q40348"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P106"}},{"key":"party","label":"Political party","values":[{"text":"United National Party","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1321770"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P102"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"Sri Lanka Law College","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3534782"},{"text":"Royal College, Colombo","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q501473"},{"text":"University of London","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170027"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"Elina Jayewardene","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28784228"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"President of Sri Lanka (4 February 1978 – 2 January 1989)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2914380","start":"1978-02-04","end":"1989-01-02"},{"text":"Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement (4 February 1978 – 9 September 1979)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15647601","start":"1978-02-04","end":"1979-09-09"},{"text":"Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka (4 August 1977 – 4 February 1978)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18964938","start":"1977-08-04","end":"1978-02-04"},{"text":"Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (23 July 1977 – 4 February 1978)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1758894","start":"1977-07-23","end":"1978-02-04"},{"text":"Leader of the Opposition (7 June 1970 – 18 May 1977)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4377233","start":"1970-06-07","end":"1977-05-18"},{"text":"Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka (24 April 1960 – 20 July 1960)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6866137","start":"1960-04-24","end":"1960-07-20"},{"text":"Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka (26 September 1947 – 13 October 1953)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6866137","start":"1947-09-26","end":"1953-10-13"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661#P39"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Jayewardene","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661"],"faq":[{"q":"When was J. R. Jayewardene born?","a":"J. R. Jayewardene was born on 17 September 1906 in Colombo."},{"q":"What positions has J. R. Jayewardene held?","a":"Positions held by J. R. Jayewardene include: President of Sri Lanka (1978–1989); Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1978–1979); Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka (1977–1978); Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1977–1978); Leader of the Opposition (1970–1977)."},{"q":"Where did J. R. Jayewardene study?","a":"J. R. Jayewardene was educated at Sri Lanka Law College, Royal College, Colombo, University of London."}],"related":[{"name":"Mahinda Rajapaksa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mahinda-rajapaksa"},{"name":"Ranasinghe Premadasa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ranasinghe-premadasa"},{"name":"D. B. Wijetunga","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/d-b-wijetunga"},{"name":"William Gopallawa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/william-gopallawa"},{"name":"Chandrika Kumaratunga","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/chandrika-kumaratunga"},{"name":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gotabaya-rajapaksa"},{"name":"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mahmoud-ahmadinejad"},{"name":"Hosni Mubarak","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/hosni-mubarak"},{"name":"Gamal Abdel Nasser","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gamal-abdel-nasser"},{"name":"Hassan Rouhani","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/hassan-rouhani"},{"name":"Mohamed Morsi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mohamed-morsi"},{"name":"Zail Singh","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/zail-singh"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/j-r-jayewardene-768731ab8e.jpg","width":500,"height":658,"license":"Public domain","credit":"Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center.","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J._R._Jayawardene,_President_of_the_Democratic_Socialist_Republic_of_Sri_Lanka_on_June_20,_1984.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): J. R. Jayewardene","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Jayewardene","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q469661","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469661","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: J. R. Jayawardene, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on June 20, 1984.jpg by Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center. (Public domain)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J._R._Jayawardene,_President_of_the_Democratic_Socialist_Republic_of_Sri_Lanka_on_June_20,_1984.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article J. R. Jayewardene, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: J. R. Jayawardene, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on June 20, 1984.jpg — Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center., Public domain.","cite":"\"J. R. Jayewardene\". DigiNepal. Last updated 9 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/j-r-jayewardene. Retrieved 10 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-09T06:51:08Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-09","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/j-r-jayewardene","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/j-r-jayewardene","ne":null}}