He was never short of bright ideas

My good friend Shanti was too young to leave us. Although I have lived in New Zealand for over 34 years, the memories of Shanti linger on and on.

I came to know Shanti Wijesundera in early 1970 when he joined Glacio Ltd, a subsidiary of the Rowlands Group, as a young enthusiastic engineer. I was the Manager at Mofinco Ltd, the printing division of Rowlands. Shanti would come up to me and say ‘I want this colour, that design, - it should be attractive’ etc. He was very clever with bright ideas.

At that time F.R. Seevaratnam was the Glacio General Manager and Shanti came up with the idea of manufacturing Usha electric refrigerators instead of kerosene Glacio refrigerators. The Chairman and Directors of Rowlands Group T.Sri Ramanathan, K.W.G Athukorale, R.M Canakeratne and I.M. Bathusha made him a Director after Mr. Seevaratnam migrated to Canada.

When I left the Rowlands Group and joined as Public Affairs Director of Taprobane magazine, Shanti approached me to help Rowlands to sell the printing machinery and I was able to help him out.

Later Shanti joined his family business known as Lake House Printers and Publishers. Even after joining Lake House he kept in touch with me calling me very often asking me about printing machinery. He wanted to get new machinery to improve the quality of printing. He was a very industrious enthusiastic person. I had high respect for his ability to get along with people.

My sympathies go out to his wife and two children.

My friend - may you rest in peace.