Christopher Ondaatje died last week at the age of 93. To many in the global literary world, the Ondaatje name is synonymous with fine writing. Sir Christopher Ondaatje is, after all, the elder brother of Michael Ondaatje, the Booker Prize-winning novelist behind The English Patient. Yet, while Michael explored the depths of fiction, Christopher lived a life that could easily have been ripped from the pages of an epic adventure novel.
Though he built a financial empire in Canada and later settled in the UK, Christopher maintained deep, unbroken ties with his native Sri Lanka. Demonstrating his lifelong passion for island heritage, he famously purchased the very property in Colombo that originally belonged to the legendary Lionel Wendt arts center premises for his personal residence, keeping his family rooted in Ceylon’s cultural heartland.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, Christopher became one of Britain’s most generous—and fiercely independent—patrons. He funded the £1.5 million Ondaatje Theatre, built a school of excellence for Somerset County Cricket, endowed the annual £10,000 Ondaatje Prize for portraiture, and even bought the prestigious Literary Review. He made headlines across the UK when he publicly broke with the Conservative Party in 2001, donating £2 million to Labour after becoming disillusioned with political elitism. “Labour have the trust and understanding of the people,” he remarked bluntly. “I’m really glad I gave them the dough.”
Yet, no amount of finance, politics, or high-society patronage could anchor a man driven by the spirit of Victorian exploration.
Spurred by a lifelong obsession with Sir Richard Burton and the 19th-century search for the source of the Nile, Christopher walked away from the boardrooms to trace the grueling footsteps of historic explorers through Africa and Asia. The journeys birthed a collection of acclaimed books—from Journey to the Source of the Nile and Woolf in Ceylon to The Man-Eater of Punanai, a moving retracing of his own Sri Lankan roots.
Sir Christopher Ondaatje remains a uniquely singular figure: a Ceylonese-born financier, Olympian, author, and explorer who proved that true wealth lies in the courage to pursue one’s passions across the globe