Christobel Weerasinghe passes away at 96
Christobel Weerasinghe, the wife of the late Oliver Weerasinghe, considered Sri Lanka’s Father of Town Planning, passed away on Thursday. She was 96.
She is the only daughter of politician and philanthropist, the late Sir Henry Kotelawala, a relative of former Prime Minister, the late Sir John Kotelawala, of Badulla.
Mrs. Weerasinghe carved out a niche for herself as an Alternative Representative and Cultural Ambassador when she accompanied her husband to the United Nations where Oliver took up a prestigious posting as Chief of the Bureau of Social Affairs in Housing, Building and Planning, followed by a stint as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States of America (USA) in the 1960s. Mr. Oliver Weerasinghe is widely acclaimed for planning and developing the new city of Anuradhapura and was also closely associated in the designing and architectural planning of the Lake House building in Fort.
In New York, Mrs. Weerasinghe was an active participant in the volunteer team at the World Federation of United Nations Associations ( WFUNA), the principal non- governmental organization supporting the UN, lecturing on behalf of the Speakers’ Bureau to women’s organizations on WFUNA work and on the ‘ Role of women in Sri Lanka’.
Invited by United Nations Radio, Mrs. Weerasinghe also conducted a weekly children’s programme, ‘ Tales from the East’ on WBAI Pacifica Foundation, which had been nominated for the prestigious Peabody Award. She produced six records titled ‘ Life and Culture of Different Lands’ for children, ‘ transporting’ them through her descriptions to Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Israel and the Arab world, in a collaboration among UNICEF, UNESCO and herself and donated all royalties to UNICEF.
On her return to Sri Lanka, Mrs. Weerasinghe taught dancing, rhythm and English nursery rhymes at two day- care centres for underprivileged children in Colombo while also engaging in many philanthropic work.
While Mr. Oliver Weerasinghe predeceased Mrs. Weerasinghe in 1980, she leaves behind her daughter Menakka and son Rohan, leading professionals living in the US, their spouses Essel Bailey and Abbey and four grandchildren Dyanthe, Gavin, Anna and Oliver. Menakka is into private investment, while Rohan is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Citi, a leading global bank.