J. M. Rajaratnam
Jesuthasan Mylvaganam Rajaratnam (23 December 1927 – 16 June 2014) was a Sri Lankan Tamil accountant and corporate executive. Early life and familyRajaratnam was born on 23 December 1927.[1] He was the son of A. J. Mylvaganam from Alvai near Point Pedro in northern Ceylon.[1] He was educated at Hartley College and Jaffna Central College.[1][2] After school Rajaratnam joined the University of Ceylon, graduating with an honours degree in chemistry.[1] He then went to study accountancy in the United Kingdom on a scholarship.[1][2] He was elected president of the Ceylon Students Association (London) in 1956 and he was also the vice-president of the London Tamil Sangam which he helped establish.[1][2] Thereafter he studied management accountancy in the United States, again on a scholarship.[1] He was a fellow member (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.[3] Rajaratnam married Rajeswari Muttucumaru.[1] They had three sons (Rajakumaran, Rajakanthan and Rajarengan) and two daughters (Shanthini and Vathani).[1] CareerRajaratnam taught briefly at Jaffna Central College.[3] Later he was appointed senior auditor at the accountancy firm Ford Rhodes, Thornton & Co and chief accountant at Brown & Co.[1][3] He then joined the Singer Company as financial controller.[4] He was chairman and CEO of Singer's operations in Ceylon in the 1970s before being promoted to Vice-President Asia Region for the Singer Company in 1976.[1][5] During his time in Ceylon he helped establish numerous small businesses in the north of the country.[2] He moved to the USA after being appointed Singer's Vice-President of Finance and Accounting.[3][4] After retirement Rajaratnam was involved in various philanthropic projects and was chairman of the Rajaratnam Charity Foundation.[1][3][2] He was president of the Illankai Tamil Sangam of the USA, vice-president of the World Tamil Organisation and founding member of the Welfare & Human Rights Committee USA.[3] He was also a consultant to the World Bank, member of the Roster of Experts on matters related to transnational corporations of the United Nations and a member of the US Executive Volunteer Service Corp.[3] Rajaratnam died on 16 June 2014 in New Jersey.[3] References
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