Cyril Ranatunga

General S. Cyril Ranatunga, VSV (19 February 1930 – 16 June 2021) was a Sri Lanka Army officer. He served as Secretary of Defence, General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command and Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army during the 1980s. He was also the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and later to the United Kingdom. and was retired from active service in 1988 once again, stepping down as GOC, Joint Operations Command. Ranatunga had stated that President Jayewardene had proposed to promote him to the rank of Field marshal.

Later work Ministry of Defence Following retirement, General Ranatunga served as Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services. In February 1990, President Ranasinghe Premadasa appointed him as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. As Defence Secretary, he managed the budgetary allocations and administration of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces. He stepped down as Defence Secretary in April 1993. He had been appointed the first Chancellor of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy in 1990 and held the post till 1995.

High Commissioner In April 1993, he was appointed by President Premadasa as Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, which he took up on 1 May 1993, the day President Premadasa was assassinated at a May Day rally in Colombo. As High Commissioner Ranatunga began a project to relocate the Sri Lanka High Commission in Canberra to a new building having purchased land for it. However, four months into his tenure, Premadasa's successor Wijetunga appointed him as Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He took up the appointment in October 1993. He served in London for a year and a half until he was recalled by the newly elected President Kumaratunga.

Leaving public life, he lived the remainder of his days at his ancestral home in Mawanella having become a gentleman farmer. He died on 16 June 2021, and per his family's wishes a private funeral took place at Borella General Cemetery on the following day.

Family On his way to the British Army Armoured Center in Bovington on board P&O liner Orontes, he met Myrtle Sumanasekera, they were engaged on their arrival in London and married soon after. They have two sons. His elder brother who also joined the army retired as a colonel.

Decorations General Ranatunga has received the Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya, Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal, Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal and the Vadamarachchi Operation Medal. He has received the United Nations Medal for the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon.