Rajendra "Raju" Coomaraswamy (July, 1915 - April 7, 1981) was a Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n civil servant and a UN administrator. He was the Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

 (UNDP) and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. He had also served as the President of the Colombo Plan Council

Colombo Plan

The Colombo Plan is a regional organization that embodies the concept of collective inter-governmental effort to strengthen economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific Region...

.

The son of C. Coomaraswamy, Ceylon's High Commissioner to India

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India is the Sri Lankan envoy to India. Countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations typically exchange High Commissioners, rather than Ambassadors...

, he was educated at the prestigious Royal College Colombo

Royal College Colombo

The Royal College of Colombo was founded in January 1835 in Colombo. It is considered to be the leading Public School in Sri Lanka...

 where he was Captain of Cricket and Athletics and went to the University College Colombo, then an affiliated University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, from where he graduated with a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

. His brother, Satheyandra "Sathi" Coomaraswamy was All Ceylon Cricketer and former Director Shaw Wallace & Hedges Co. Ltd.

Joining the Ceylon Civil Service

Ceylon Civil Service

The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, originated as the elite civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule in 1833 and carried on after independence, until May 1, 1963 when it was abolished and the much larger Ceylon Administrative Service was...

 in 1933, he had served as the Assistant Controller of Exchange, Imports & Exports; Deputy Commissioner of Labor, Industries & Commerce; General Manager

General manager

General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...

, Credit Corporation and Secretary, Housing Loan Board.

Thereafter he was appointed Assistant Administrator of the UNDP, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific in 1961, Secretary General 1971, Assistant Director UNDP 1971.

He had been an adviser to the Prime Minister; cabinet of Ministers in International Economic Cooperation and Alternate for Sri Lanka to the World Bank.