Editing Merrill J. Fernando (section)

===Early life and education===
Merrill Joseph Fernando<ref>"Founder of Dilmah tea Merrill J. Fernando has passed away". Hiru News. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.</ref> was born into a Catholic family<ref>Perera, Melani Manel (21 July 2023). "Merril J. Fernando, founder of Sri Lankan tea giant 'Dilmah' has died". Asia News. Retrieved 26 July 2023.</ref> 6 May 1930 in the village of Pallansena, near Kochchikade,<ref>Vishwa, Surya (31 May 2023). "Review: The story of Ceylon Teamaker, Merrill J. Fernando – Part 1". Daily FT. Retrieved 26 July 2023.</ref> in Negombo, British Ceylon, a village north of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.<ref>Noack, Georgina (21 July 2023). "Founder of iconic Aussie tea brand dies". news.com. Retrieved 22 July 2023.</ref> After beginning at the Pallansena village school, then St Mary's in Negombo, he moved to Colombo, attending Maris Stella College and then St Joseph's College.<ref>Fernando, Merrill J. (26 July 2023). "Merrill J. Fernando". Harvard Business School (Interview). Retrieved 26 July 2023.</ref>

He also studied for four years to be a priest, at the St. Aloysius seminary in Borella, but was eventually rejected by the brothers there as a candidate.[4]

He then went to London to train as a tea taster at Mincing Lane.[6] While there, he noticed that tea was being mixed and blended but still marketed as pure Ceylon tea. The tea was bought cheaply, with branding and packaging taking place in Europe and the UK, returning small profits to Sri Lankan tea producers while middlemen (wholesalers and resellers, mainly a few large corporations) reaped the lion's share of the profits.[8]