Deshamanya Neville T. D. Kanakaratna (1923 - 19 September 1999)[1] was a Sri Lankan lawyer, diplomat and scholar who was the Governor of the Southern Province.
[2] He was the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States and High Commissioner to India.
Educated at Southlands College Galle[3] and at the Royal College, Colombo, where he was the Head Prefect in 1941, Kanakaratna pursued his higher studies at the University of Ceylon, graduating with a B.A.
Kanakaratna went on to serve the government of Ceylon in a legal advisory capacity.
[5] Kanakaratna went on to become one of Ceylon's prominent diplomats, serving as its Ambassador to the United States and High Commissioner to India and was the head of the committee for the establishment of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies.