Trek to school and gems of wisdom
After a long illness bravely borne, Prof. Leslie Panditharatne passed away on November 26, last year. His remains were interred in the Catholic cemetery of the Pitipana parish.
He lived a life very much beyond the Biblical span ending it at the age of 92 years, blessed by a married life of 64 years. He is survived by his wife Ranee and two daughters Enrica and Dr Sherica, their husbands Aruna and Shanil and three grandchildren.
His father, Edwin Panditharatne, born of Catholic and Buddhist parents was from Seeduwa and was a Station Master in the Department of the Railways while his mother Annamaria Fernando came from a respectable family which could boast of a grandfather, a native physician who was buried in the church along with his wife, an honour now accorded to Archbishops only.
To his younger brothers and cousins he was Letchaiya or Leslie Aiya. I had a close and educationally fruitful relationship with him as a cousin. He was the fourth sibling in a family of seven with one sister as the sixth. He had his early education in his village school and Maris Stella College, Negombo. Like his older brothers he would walk all the way from home at Pitipana, a distance of three miles each way along with his best friend in his teen years, Vincent Fernando.
The trek to school was punctuated by a boat ride close to the mouth of the Negombo lagoon. I used to walk behind the pair for some time picking up a few English phrases imbibing some gems of wisdom. Our teacher and Principal of the lower school, Bro. Nizier used to talk glowingly about him, his performance in studies. He lost his father in his mid-teen years but managed to continue his studies unfettered by financial problems due to the free education system introduced about that time.
After obtaining the London Matriculation qualification based on his performance at the SSC, he changed school and joined St. Mary’s Negombo in order to study Geography as one of the subjects for the University Entrance Examination. He then joined St. Joseph’s College, Maradana from where he entered the University of Ceylon, Colombo. At St. Joseph’s he had on one occasion dared to correct Fr. Peter Pillai’s anglicised pronunciation of Kegalle.
At the annual prize giving he won several prizes including the open prize in general knowledge. He specialised in Geography obtaining a second class honours degree. Soon he was recruited to the Department of Geography as an assistant lecturer. He then obtained a PhD from the University of London and returned to
teach geography to the students following the general and special courses. He was soon promoted as a Reader and Professor.
A few years later he was appointed as Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya. Towards the end of his acahe demic career he was appointed Chairman of the University Grants Commission. Prof. Panditharatne held two positions simultaneously as Director General of the NIBM and Chairman of the Mineral Sands Corporation.
After retirement from academic life his services were sought by the American College of Higher Studies, Dehiwela. It was during this time that he wrote and published several books on subjects like the fisheries industry in Negombo, the political geography of the town of Negombo, Urban Sri Lanka, among othwrote ers. He also wrote his autobiography in two parts – “An autobiography –Account of our Family Life” and “Life and Times of our University days”.
Another noteworthy publication among his other research based papers, is a textntroducing\ book titled “Introducing Basic Geographical Knowledge”.
He exuded a high degree of bonhomie to all around him.
May he rest in peace.