Chandra Schaffter

Chandra Thomas Adolphus Schaffter (born 3 April 1930) is a Sri Lankan businessman and former cricket administrator. He played first-class cricket for Ceylon in the 1950s, and founded Sri Lanka's first major Sri Lankan-owned life insurance company, Janashakthi, in 1994. In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket, to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Early life and sporting career Chandra Schaffter was born in 1930 to Adolphus Jeshuran Schaffter, a school master, and his wife Alice Schaffter. His mother died when he was two, and his father when Chandra was 11. Schaffter boarded at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, representing the school First XI for several years as an opening bowler.

He played three first-class and two one-day matches for Ceylon between 1953 and 1958. His best performance came in the Gopalan Trophy match against Madras in Madras in 1953–54, when he opened the bowling and took 3 for 28 and 3 for 71 and the Ceylon team won by an innings and 108 runs.

He also represented Sri Lanka at hockey.

Cricket administration and sponsorship Schaffter managed the Sri Lankan cricket teams that toured England in 1991 and 2002. His company Janashakthi sponsored Test cricket in Sri Lanka, employed a number of prominent cricketers, and financed and published the first history of Sri Lankan cricket, The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket, 1832–1996 by S. S. Perera.

Business career Schaffter began work in the insurance business in 1952 as a clerk with the Ceylon Insurance Company.

He returned to Sri Lanka in the 1980s and continued to work in insurance. He was instrumental in persuading the national government to allow private insurance companies to operate again. Prakash followed his father into the insurance industry, becoming chairman of Janashakthi, and also served Sri Lanka Cricket as an administrator.