Later Life
Goonetilleke left the Governor-General's post on 2 March 1962 and led a retired life in London soon after a attempted military coup. Although he wasn't part of it he was forced to resign. He also became both sufficiently affluent and sufficiently familiar with British business affairs to become an Underwriting Member of Lloyd's of London, the famous reinsurance house in London. He married Phyllis Miller, who was the secretary of the Soulbury Commission, whom he had befriended during the period of the Commission circa 1944, and lived near Marble Arch at 14, Albion Gate.
He died in Sri Lanka after a brief illness in 1978. A biography under the title 'OEG' was written by Charles Joseph Jeffries, and memorials to Goonetilleke include a six-foot bronze statue by sculptor Tissa Ranasinghe, commissioned by his family and installed in 1967 at a major roundabout in Colombo.
Read more about this topic: Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke
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