Don Richard Wijewardena was a Sri Lankan press baron who was involved in the Sri Lankan independence movement. A successful entrepreneur, he established Lake House newspapers and played a significant role in the independence movement.

Junius Richard Jayewardene, commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as J.R., was a Sri Lankan lawyer, Public official and a stateman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the second President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence. A longtime member of the United National Party, he led it to a landslide victory in 1977 and served as prime minister for half a year before becoming the country's first executive president under an amended constitution.