Harold Herath

Deshabandu Harold Herath

Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 1991–1993
President	Ranasinghe Premadasa
Prime Minister	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
Preceded by	Ranjan Wijeratne
Succeeded by	Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed
Minister of Justice
In office 1993–1994
President	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremasinghe
Preceded by	Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed
Succeeded by	G. L. Peiris
Minister of Coconut Development
Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament for Puttalam
In office 15 February 1989 – 10 October 2000
Personal details
Died	31, August 2007 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Political party	United National Party
Other political affiliations	United National Front
Spouse(s)	Gwen Herath
Children	3

Deshabandu James Edward Herath Herald known as Harold Herath was a senior Sri Lankan politician and Cabinet Minister. Herath was most notably Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Ranasinghe Premadasa from 1991 to 1993. He entered Parliament winning the Nattandiya electorate in the Puttalam Electoral District 1977, and held his seat until 2000 retiring not contesting the 2001 parliamentary election. He has also held the portfolios of Minister of Justice and Minister of Coconut Development.

In 2005 Harold Herath was conferred the national honour and title Deshabandu by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Harold Herath died on 31, August 2007 after a brief illness, he was 75. He was married to Gwen Herath, a former Provincial Council member and President of the Women’s Cricket Association of Sri Lanka (WCASL), and was father to three children.