MAYADUNNE SRIMEVAN SEBASTIAN EDIRIMANA COREA was the son of Russel and Ernestine Corea. He was born on the 16th of September 1931. Completing his education at St. Mary’s College, Chilaw, he enrolled in the Ceylon Law College and passed out as a lawyer, no doubt influenced by the fact that his maternal grandfather was C. E. Corea. Serving as a Magistrate and elevated to the position of District Judge, he served in many parts of the island.

During his tenure as a judicial officer, Mayadunne was renowned for his sense of fairplay and justice and above all, the strict discipline he maintained in his courts.

Mayadunne married Audrey Iris Rita Gooneratne, the daughter of Alfred Justus De Silva Wickremesinghe Gooneratne and Agnes Mary Perera of Kegalle. The wedding was held at St. Mary’s Church, Bambalapitiya in 1962. Rita was an English Trained Teacher and was for a period, the District/Divisional Commissioner of the Girl Guides in Kegalle. They had three children, Agnes Sharmila Lilani who is now a senior officer at NARA, Mayadunne Srimevan Anthony, a lawyer and Justice of the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka and Priyantha Rajiv Sebastian, who worked at Air Lanka.

Mayadunne Corea (Snr) passed away on the 05th of March 1997 in Colombo, at the age of sixty six.