Satchi Ponnambalam

Ponnambalam was born on 27 January 1935.^[1] He was the son of R. Ponnambalam and Sinnamah Ammal from Chundikuli in northern Ceylon.^[1] He was educated at St. John's College, Jaffna.^[1] After school he entered University of Ceylon, Peradeniya in 1955.^[1]

Ponnambalam married Vasantha (Vasi), daughter of V. Sittampalam.^[1][2][3] They had three daughters (Sumanthi, Jamuna and Menaka).^[1][2][3]

Ponnambalam joined the legal profession after graduation, becoming an advocate and solicitor (England).^[1] He was then state advocate and senior state advocate in Zambia.^[1] He then moved to Belize in 1981 to serve as a magistrate.^[1][2] He was promoted to chief magistrate before joining the Supreme Court of Belize as a puisne judge in 1985.^[1][2] He retired in 1993.^[1][2]

Ponnambalam worked as a legal consultant, participated at Tamil conferences and wrote two books: Dependent Capitalism in Crisis in Sri Lanka, 1948-79 (1980) and Sri Lanka : The National Question and the Tamil Liberation Struggle (1983).^[1][2] He died on 31 January 1999 at his home in Belize City.^[2][3]