A Life Around Cricket, Hockey and Insurance!
Chandra Schaffter, founder of Janashakthi Insurance PLC and the oldest living First Class Cricketer who represented Ceylon in Hockey and Cricket, turns 95 years today.
He was a dual international sportsperson, a selector and administrator in both Cricket and Hockey, and also founded one of the first Insurance companies in the country. Today's story is about Janashakthi Insurance PLC's founder, Mr. Chandra Thomas Adolphus Schaffter, who is also the oldest living First Class Cricketer in the country!
Born on a day like this in 1930, he schooled at S. Thomas' College where he eventually became the Cricket Captain and Head Prefect. A versatile sportsman, he unfortunately missed out on playing the Royal Thomian as the captain, owing to an injury from a hockey match a week before. However, he went on to become a dual international sportsperson in both sports!
CTA Schaffter with the 1947 STC team (colourised)
A Player and Administrator of Cricket and Hockey
One of his famous feats in Cricket was taking 6 wickets at the Gopalan Trophy in 1954 where Ceylon defeated Madras by an Innings and 108 runs. At the same time, he represented Sri Lanka in Hockey in regional tours.
But more than his playing career in which he spent most of his time as an insurance broker, he moved into sports administration. He served in the capacity of selector, secretary and chairman of the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation and similarly, a team manager and selector for Sri Lanka Cricket.
The Insurance Broker Turned Magnate
During his University days where he dropped out of studying Medicine, he turned to Insurance Brokering and upon learning his basics, founded Sri Lanka's first fully Sri Lankan owned insurance company specialized in Life Insurance - Janashakthi Insurance PLC in 1992 where he remained as Chairman (Emeritus).
The Janashakthi Group even sponsored Sri Lanka Cricket and other sports at the grassroot level. At the time, Life Insurance was relatively new in Sri Lanka and there were unique benefits and policies that made the company stand out from the rest, especially with their support to Sri Lankan sports in general.
In 2018, he was felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket for his services among the 49 cricketers in the Pre-Test era, not forgetting to mention about his service to Sri Lanka Hockey and the insurance industry in general for he is known as the "Father of Insurance"
Here's to wishing Mr. Schaffter on his 95th birthday today!
(Below is a picture of his birthday celebrations with his Alma Mater)