Veteran journalist Jayatilleke de Silva passes away

Veteran journalist, author, academic and educationist Jayatilleke de Silva

(80) passed away yesterday after a brief illness. He was a former Chief Editor of the Daily News and Sunday Observer.

Born in Ambalangoda in 1938, Mr. De Silva was a graduate of the University of Colombo. He then entered the teaching profession and later became the Principal of Deniyaya Central College. He then left teaching to pursue a full time career in politics from the Sri Lanka Communist Party and was an active member for a few decades.

His first foray into journalism was from the Aththa newspaper of the Communist Party. He soon earned a reputation as an author and translator of several seminal works on socialism and other trends in politics.

His most well-known work is the massive three-volume Sinhala translation of Karl Marx’ definitive tome on the socialist model “Das Kapital”.

After retiring from active politics, he re-entered journalism, joining the Daily News in the late 1990s and becoming its Editor-in-chief in 2001. He was appointed Editor of the Daily News again from 20032004 and also held the post of Chief Editor, Sunday Observer for a few years. He was well known for his sharp editorials and in-depth analysis of issues of the day.

After leaving Lake House, he continued to write political columns to both English and Sinhala newspapers. He was a fearless writer and a critical analyst of contemporary politics. He also spoke regularly at political forums and discussions on current issues.

He is survived by his wife Sunila and three children Thushari, Himali and Asanka. He was the uncle of Pramod de Silva, a former editor of the Daily News and its present Consultant Editor.

His remains will lie at his Koswatte, Nawala residence for the public to pay their last respects. The Funeral will be held on Thursday (28) evening at the Nawala Cemetery.