Bradman Weerakoon

Deshamanya Robin Bradman Weerakoon (20 October 1930 – 7 July 2025) was a Sri Lankan civil servant. As a senior bureaucrat of the Sri Lankan government, he served nine Sri Lankan heads of state in a career spanning half a century.

Early life His father, Edmund R. Weerakoon and his mother, a teacher at Princess of Wales College, were both devout Anglicans. He was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 20 October 1930 and named after the legendary Australian cricketer Don Bradman who sailed to Colombo on the day of his birth.

Education Weerakoon studied at Holy Cross College, Kalutara, and later was one of the first boarding students at St. Thomas's College, Guruthalawa during the Mount Lavinia parent school's breakup into three separate branch schools (at Kollupitiya, Guruthalawa and Bandarawela) during World War II.

Civil service Weerakoon joined the Ceylon Civil Service in 1954 and was assigned as a cadet to the Anuradhapura Kachcheri as an understudy to the Government Agent (GA) of Anuradhapura, after which he spent a year in Jaffna where he learnt Tamil. Thereafter he worked for Dudley Senanayake although some in the UNP felt uneasy about his presence. After Sirimavo won the election again in 1970, he was transferred as Government Agent of Batticaloa and later Ampara, since he was deemed untrustworthy having conveyed information to the UNP Dudley Senanayake during Mrs. Bandaranaike's previous regime.

After Premadasa's death, he continued as the adviser of his successor D.B. Wijetunge, and resigned in 1994 when Chandrika Kumaratunga became the president.

His memoir Rendering Unto Caesar was published in 2004 after Wickremesinghe's government was defeated.

Personal life and death Weerakoon was married to Damayanthi Gunasekara until her death in June 2007. They had one child, Esala, who also became a senior civil servant and a diplomat, a former Sri Lankan ambassador to Norway. He declined to co-operate in a publicity campaign against the Tamil Tigers, Esala married Krishanti, the daughter of another well known Sri Lankan civil servant Bernard Tilakaratna.

Weerakoon died aged 94, on 7 July 2025. His funeral took place on 9 July, at the Kanatte Cemetery in Borella.