Tennyson Rodrigo, the second in the family of four children of late Henry (Harry) and Sessie Rodrigo (nee Silva), was born in the village of Gonapinnuwala 70 miles south of Colombo. He had his early schooling at Christ Church, Baddegama, scenically situated and overlooking the meandering river Gin Ganga (as described by Tennyson in an account to the publication Ahead of Time. Passages extracted from that book are in italics below).
At the age of ten his father relocated to Nalluruwa, Panadura and Tennyson moved to Sri Sumangala College. In 1948 he entered the University of Ceylon and graduated in Chemistry and Double Mathematics. Tennyson joined the staff of Ananda College and taught Chemistry at university entrance level.
Shortly thereafter he was awarded a scholarship under the Colombo Plan to study chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales from where he graduated with honours in chemical engineering. While in Australia he worked as a Development Chemist at Lever Bros. in Balmain near Sydney. He is a chartered engineer and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Chemical engineers, UK.
On returning to Ceylon in 1957, Tennyson was under obligation to serve the Government for a period of ten years. He held several technical and managerial positions in the public sector including that of Project Manager for the then largest industrial project – the Petroleum Refinery and the Urea Fertilizer complex at Sapugaskanda.
After completing his obligatory service, Tennyson joined the Bank of Ceylon as a Technical Consultant and was part of the team that eventually created the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka. In 1981 he accepted an appointment with the Government of Papua New Guinea, in Port Moresby, as an Industrial Technologist.
In 1984 he returned to Sri Lanka and carried out a consultancy assignment for the National Development Bank that culminated in his appointment as the Managing director of Capital Development and Investment Company Limited, the first venture capital company in Sri Lanka.
In 2000 he retired from corporate executive positions but continued to serve as a Non-Executive Director of two publicly quoted companies.
Tennyson’s wife Vinitha was an honours graduate in Sanskrit from the University of Peradeniya. She served as a teacher at Bishop’s College and Head Mistress of Wycherley International School during a teaching career that spanned 40 years. She was the daughter of Eugene and Agnes Fernando a leading family of merchants in Moratuwa.
Vinitha Rodrigo (nee Fernando) predeceased Tennyson in December 2014. They were a couple that took pleasure in good company, relished reading as well as writing and enjoyed music and theatre. He played the Tabla, Violin and the Sitar and was a close associate of the composer of the national anthem, Ananda Samarakone and Sitarist Lional Edirisinghe. They lived a harmonious and happy life as husband and wife for over 50 years. Since they did not have children of their own Tennyson’s nephew Thushara Rodrigo and niece Sandya Salgado, off springs of his sister Swarnamali Rodrigo, were their de facto progeny. Aravinda de Silva, of cricketing fame, was his nephew from the other sister Indrani (Rani)de Silva (nee Rodrigo). Aravinda’s wife, Anushka, was close to him in the last few years of his life. He had two other nieces, Sashi and Anusha from Swarnamali and Araliya from Indrani who live in the USA, Canada and Australia respectively.
Tennyson passed away on 20 December 2018, one day short of his 89th birthday, at his residence at Charles Drive, Colombo 3.
Tennyson Rodrigo, the second in the family of four children of late Henry (Harry) and Sessie Rodrigo (nee Silva), was born in the village of Gonapinnuwala 70 miles south of Colombo. He had his early schooling at Christ Church, Baddegama, scenically situated and overlooking the meandering river Gin Ganga (as described by Tennyson in an account to the publication Ahead of Time. Passages extracted from that book are in italics below).
At the age of ten his father relocated to Nalluruwa, Panadura and Tennyson moved to Sri Sumangala College. In 1948 he entered the University of Ceylon and graduated in Chemistry and Double Mathematics. Tennyson joined the staff of Ananda College and taught Chemistry at university entrance level.
Shortly thereafter he was awarded a scholarship under the Colombo Plan to study chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales from where he graduated with honours in chemical engineering. While in Australia he worked as a Development Chemist at Lever Bros. in Balmain near Sydney. He is a chartered engineer and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Chemical engineers, UK.
On returning to Ceylon in 1957, Tennyson was under obligation to serve the Government for a period of ten years. He held several technical and managerial positions in the public sector including that of Project Manager for the then largest industrial project – the Petroleum Refinery and the Urea Fertilizer complex at Sapugaskanda.
After completing his obligatory service, Tennyson joined the Bank of Ceylon as a Technical Consultant and was part of the team that eventually created the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka. In 1981 he accepted an appointment with the Government of Papua New Guinea, in Port Moresby, as an Industrial Technologist.
In 1984 he returned to Sri Lanka and carried out a consultancy assignment for the National Development Bank that culminated in his appointment as the Managing director of Capital Development and Investment Company Limited, the first venture capital company in Sri Lanka.
In 2000 he retired from corporate executive positions but continued to serve as a Non-Executive Director of two publicly quoted companies.
Tennyson’s wife Vinitha was an honours graduate in Sanskrit from the University of Peradeniya. She served as a teacher at Bishop’s College and Head Mistress of Wycherley International School during a teaching career that spanned 40 years. She was the daughter of Eugene and Agnes Fernando a leading family of merchants in Moratuwa.
Vinitha Rodrigo (nee Fernando) predeceased Tennyson in December 2014. They were a couple that took pleasure in good company, relished reading as well as writing and enjoyed music and theatre. He played the Tabla, Violin and the Sitar and was a close associate of the composer of the national anthem, Ananda Samarakone and Sitarist Lional Edirisinghe. They lived a harmonious and happy life as husband and wife for over 50 years. Since they did not have children of their own Tennyson’s nephew Thushara Rodrigo and niece Sandya Salgado, off springs of his sister Swarnamali Rodrigo, were their de facto progeny. Aravinda de Silva, of cricketing fame, was his nephew from the other sister Indrani (Rani)de Silva (nee Rodrigo). Aravinda’s wife, Anushka, was close to him in the last few years of his life. He had two other nieces, Sashi and Anusha from Swarnamali and Araliya from Indrani who live in the USA, Canada and Australia respectively.
Tennyson passed away on 20 December 2018, one day short of his 89th birthday, at his residence at Charles Drive, Colombo 3.