Senior civil servant Lionel Fernando passed away
Lionel Fernando, a senior officer in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service and a diplomat passed away on July 6th in Colombo.
Lionel Fernando served as the Ambassador for Sri Lanka in the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain and as the High Commissioner in Malaysia.
He served as the Governor of the North-Eastern Province and served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Mass Media as well as several other ministries. He served as the head of several institutions including the Ceylon Shipping Corporation, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, and was the founding Chairman of the National Insurance Corporation.
In addition, he also served as the Chairman of the International Organization for the Abolition of Chemical Weapons. His work as the Government Agent of Jaffna was praised widely.
Lionel Fernando, who received his first degree from the University of Peradeniya, was an actor in the first production of Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s “Maname” drama during that time and made a great contribution to local cinema and theatre.
Lionel Fernando is a postgraduate diploma holder in Economic Development at the University of Cambridge. He read law at the Open University of Sri Lanka and was admitted to the Bar of Sri Lanka as an Attorney at Law.
Lionel Fernando was the beloved husband of the late veteran dramatist Somalatha Subasinghe. He leaves behind daughters Kaushalya Fernando and Shyamalika Nanayakkara, and sons-in-law Professor Chandana Aluthge and Priyanka Nanayakkara.
His remains will lie at Jayaratne Respect Parlour from 9.30 am on Monday 08 July, and the last rites will be performed the same evening at 5.30 at the new crematorium, Borella Cemetery.