He made the sun truly shine in the editorial offices of the SUN and WEEKEND

On November 16, 2015, veteran Editor Charles Rex de Silva breathed his last, leaving behind a sea of tears, and waves of shock and disbelief.

How a human being so kind, capable, talented and extraordinary could leave so suddenly, was the question in the minds of all those who knew him; his family, friends and the hundreds of cub reporters he moulded into fine journalists, who occupy high places in the media world today.

As a star editor in the SUN/ WEEKEND newspapers of Independent Newspaper Limited, Rex de Silva gave his best years to the newspaper group and infused new life into journalism of that era. He was hailed as a creator, writer, artist and mentor to the hundreds of journalists who worked at these newspapers. He would recruit school leavers, train them to become professional journalists and later on help them gain university degrees. His deputy editors at the time at the SUN and WEEKEND, Iqbal Athas and Sinha Ratnatunga, are gentleman journalists at the highest rung in the journalism ladder today.

Rex had that distinctive ability to make every young man and woman feel at ease with his friendly exterior, reassuring words and warm ways. Listening to problems, ironing out the creases that life put in their paths, Rex made the sun truly shine in the Editorial offices of the SUN and WEEKEND.

Sometimes what we leave behind in life may bring us peace and that is just the way it is with this veteran editor and fine human being. The success and happiness today in the lives he changed are reasons for that peace. The young men and woman who trained, his sons, fine young men today, who have achieved success in their own right, his loving wife Ranjini who continues to shower her kindness and generosity – Rex de Silva has left an undying legacy wherein his memory is reborn as the sun rises.