She rose to power in 1960 as a widow and mother of three, becoming the first woman in the world to serve as a prime minister.
This obituary was originally published on Oct. 11, 2000. It is being republished for a package for Women’s History Month.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, the first woman in the world to serve as a prime minister, died yesterday shortly after voting in Sri Lanka’s elections. She was 84.
Mrs. Bandaranaike’s final act was to vote in a parliamentary election she hoped would return the family’s party to power leading a governing coalition known as the People’s Alliance. Her death from a heart attack on Election Day seemed poetically timed for a woman whose family business is politics and whose political career spanned four decades.
Mrs. Bandaranaike rose to power in 1960 as a bereaved wife and mother of three, just a year after her husband, Solomon, then prime minister, was assassinated by a Buddhist monk. She quickly established herself as the undisputed leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party — founded by her husband — and a formidable politician in her own right.
She also became the matriarch of a political dynasty. In the final years of her life, her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, succeeded her as the standard bearer of the family party and has served as president of the country since 1994. The father, mother and daughter have led Sri Lanka for 21 of the 52 years since it gained its independence from the British.
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