Merrill Fernando

With a mission in Tea that was birthed from being a tea taster in 1950, Merrill Fernando (6th May 1930 – 20th July 2023) embarked on a journey with a vision to offer consumers the finest tea on earth and to do so with ethics and integrity. In 1950 he was among the first Sri Lankans to learn the skill of tea tasting. He began his career as a Tea Assistant at A.F Jones & Co in 1954 and was appointed Managing Director of the Company in 1958. Merrill Fernando resigned from A F Jones in 1962 and started Ceylon Tea Services Company, establishing Merrill J Fernando Company to export bulk tea to many countries across the globe. He launched his own brand ‘Dilmah’ in 1985. Unlike the multi origin blends that monopolize the market, Dilmah Tea Company is the first producer owned Tea brand, and offers Tea ‘picked, perfected and packed’ at origin. Despite overwhelming challenges, in pursuit of his dream of quality, ethics & sustainability in tea, Merrill Fernando devoted seventy plus years of his life with the support of his two sons, to make their family business a matter of service, combining taste, goodness and purpose. In addition to establishing the world-renowned tea brand ‘Dilmah’, he founded the Merrill J. Fernando Charitable Foundation in 2002, one that is dedicated to supporting various initiatives in Sri Lanka, focusing on youth development, first-time entrepreneurs, community organizations, special needs individuals, and war widows. He wanted his passion for tea to benefit not only customers and consumers but workers and marginalized people in the environment and community as well. He served as the CEO of Dilmah until 2019, stepping down at the age of 91 to be succeeded by his son Dilhan Fernando.