Sri Lanka, Feb. 3 -- Deshamanya Harry Jayewardene, a leading Sri Lankan industrialist and businessman, has passed away at the age of 82.

Born on August 17, 1942, as Don Harold Stassen Jayewardene, he was recognized by Forbes as one of Sri Lanka's wealthiest individuals.

Jayewardene's career began as a tea trader in Colombo with a British-owned tea export company. He later joined the government-owned State Trading Corporation (Consolexpo Ltd.) and headed the Tea Department, overseeing Sri Lanka's tea export monopoly under Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the 1970s.

In 1977, he founded Stassen Exports to focus on exporting Ceylon tea. His business ventures expanded over the years, and in 1992, his empire acquired a controlling sta...