A MAN WITH MANY ‘FIRSTS’

by ECB Wijeyesinghe

In a life studded with Firsts, the only time that Edmund Joseph Cooray came second was when he was born. Ten days ago he was beaten again, this time by that churl, the Angel of Death, who would not let him enjoy his 72nd birthday which fell yesterday (17.11.79).

Edmund Cooray was the younger son of an old Wadduwa family that had worked and lived amid severe competition from Moratuwa and Panadura. Eventually he put his home-town on the map. The Coorays of Wadduwa area were a distinct tribe noted for their guts and high spirits, but their lives are always sustained by an intense devotion to the Roman Catholic faith.

Determined

They have had their ups and downs, especially when some of their forbears who were headmen burnt the candle at both ends and left the family fortunes in a parlous condition. Edmund’s father was as a result at one time in grave financial difficulties but he was determined to win through. Even before Edmund’s birth an Avissawella astrologer looked at his father’s palm and confidently predicted that his second son would hit the jack-pot.

The father, M. Elaris Cooray at that time had only one little son and one tiny distillery. He mentioned the prediction to his wife, Catherine, and the two of them, knowing that Heaven helps those who help themselves, set about the task of giving the astrologer a sporting chance of fulfilling his prophecy.

In course of time the parents had three more sons, all of whom were intelligent and god-fearing fellows who were prepared to live laborious days to replenish the family’s empty cupboards. But just as the soothsayer said, it was the arrival of the second son that marked the turning point of the old couple’s fortunes. Elaris Cooray began to prosper. He bought estates. His liquor business flourished and as his sons grew up, his friends playfully suggested that, as far as brains were concerned, they all appeared to be double-distilled.

Welcome

When Archbishop Coudert visited Wadduwa 65 years ago he got a pleasant surprise when instead of the Nabob of the neighbourhood a little lad stepped up and read the Address of Welcome to His Grace at the reception in the vernacular school hall. The small boy was hardly able to lift up the framed document which was couched in high-flown Sinhala made still more difficult to read owing to the ornamental calligraphy. But the bright chap got through it with the fluency of a seasoned politician addressing an election meeting.

The kindly prelate was so happy that he lifted the little fellow in his arms, gathered him to his ample bosom and said that a great future was in store for him. From that obscure village school, Edmund Cooray went on to St. John’s College, Panadura, the educational cradle of many an eminent personality. Cyril Jansz Vidyalaya now commemorates that historic institution which attracted like a magnet all the brightest boys in the district.

Among its alumni were Edmund Rodrigo, CCS, A.C. Gooneratne, QC and his band of clever brothers and sisters, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, and his Civil Servant brother, Walwin, Dr. G. P. Malalasekera, Reggie Perera, diplomat and gastronome, R. Bodinagoda, Chairman of the Lake House group of Newspapers, Mr. Justice E. H. T. Gunasekere and a host of others who have made their mark in various walks of life.

Not the least of the school’s products was Rosemary Rogers a grand-daughter of Cyril Jansz, and perhaps the only Sri Lankan who has made a million dollars by writing fiction. Edmund Cooray had the foundation for higher education well and truly laid by Cyril Jansz before his father sent him to St. Joseph’s College where he dazzled Father Cajetan the other teachers at Darley Road.

Once Edmund won 13 prizes out of a possible 14. He had missed the prize for Religious Knowledge and annoyed his father. That award went to a boy named Sylvan Fernando who pursued his ecclesiastical studies so vigorously that he was not aware whither he was going until he landed in the seminary.

After a spell of strenuous religious exercises, Sylvan discovered that the priesthood was not exactly his cup of tea and that he was built for more mundane things. He became a lawyer and enjoyed a good practice in Gampaha. Meanwhile, Edmund’s father who was now in fairly affluent circumstances was advised by his friends to buy a wheel-barrow to remove the books that his son received every prize-day at the Bonjean Hall.

Success

But this was only the beginning of the series of successes that he scored on the academic road. Before he was 18 he had won the Open Entrance Scholarship to the Ceylon University College. The following year he carried off the Pettah Library Prize for the best performance in English at the Inter-Arts Exam of the London University. Proceeding to England a year later he secured the Honours degree in Classics at the London University.

Then looking for fresh fields to conquer he hit on Constitutional Law as a subject. This helped him to secure the coveted LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree of the London University. Earlier he had been called to the English Bar from Lincoln’s Inn, London, after securing “First Class Honours” at the Examinations of the Inns of Court. His love for constitutional Law was such that he insisted on his younger brother, Dr. J. A. L. Cooray specializing in it and eventually becoming one of the foremost authorities on the subject in the East.

Civil Service

But Edmund’s crowning glory in his youth came to him when he was 24 years old and he swept the board at the Civil Service exam held in London. As he topped the list in order of merit he could have chosen to serve in India. But he preferred to give his native country the benefit of his brains and a remarkable career began in 1931 which lasted 24 years and took him to the highest echelon of Government service and earned for him the CMG.

A knighthood would have been his reward if he continued in the Public Service. But he plunged into the whirlpool of politics and was immediately made a Senator and Minister of Justice in which capacity he represented Dudley Senanayake at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in London.

In 1962 when British businessmen began to pack their bags and to leave Lanka’s private sector in the hands of the sons of the soil he became Chairman of Browns Group of 18 companies covering such diverse interests as engineering, hire-purchase, finance, tourism, airline agencies, banking, transport and hoteliering. It was a colossal job but for 17 years he held it with distinction and evoked not only plaudits at home but recognition abroad.

Most Ceylonese establish the French connection through the Folies Bergere or the Moulin Rouge, but Edmund Cooray was unique in that General De Gaulle, President of France, personally bestowed on him the prestigious decoration of an officer of the Legion d’Honneur.

(Excerpted from The Good At Their Best first published in 1979)