Deshamanya Harry Jayawardena, a leading Sri Lankan industrialist and businessman, has passed away at the age of 82.

Don Harold Stassen Jayawardena, widely known as Harry Jayawardena, was the chairman of Melstacorp PLC and served as the Honorary Consul General for Denmark in Sri Lanka.

Forbes had listed Jayawardena among the richest people in Sri Lanka. He also served as the chairman of both the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka and Aitken Spence—marking them as the first Sri Lankan companies to be listed on Forbes’ list of best-managed companies outside the USA.