Gerrit de Heere

Gerrit Jansz de Heere was a Dutch merchant and official in the service of the Dutch East India Company who served as Governor of Ceylon during the Dutch colonial period.

De Heere entered the service of the Dutch East Company around 1693 working as opperhoofd, or chief factor at Dejima, an island in the bay of Nagasaki. Thereafter he was promoted and became an opperkoopman, a senior merchant in Batavia, the capital city of the Dutch East Indies. In Batavia he entered into an advantageous marriage with Johanna Maria van Riebeeck, daughter of Abraham van Riebeeck, who was an influential Dutch merchant and the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.

Two years later, in 1697 de Heere was appointed Governor of Ceylon and he remained on that function until his death in 1702.