Dr. Richard Pathirana was a Sri Lankan politician and educationist.He served as the minister for Education and Higher Education from 1994 to 2000 and as the minister for State Administration, Home Affairs and Administration Reforms from 2000 to 2001 in the cabinets of Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Dr. Pathirana is not only the founder of Siridhamma College he established the Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa, Wayamba Universities and also HNDEIT at Labuduwa during his tenure as the Higher Education Minister and increased the annual enrollments of students to local universities and Other Goverment Institutions.He also took measures to double the allocation made for education and took the initiative to resolve the salary anomalies of Sri Lankan teachers as the Education Minister. Minister Pathirana did a yeoman service to uplift the education specially in the rural areas of the country and also developed human resources as well as physical resources in the education sector during his tenure as the education minister.