Death of veteran Lankan journalist Srimal Abeywardene in Canada

In a condolence message conveyed to his wife, Malkanhi, by Sri Lanka’s Consul-General in Toronto, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the contribution of veteran Lankan journalist Srimal Abeywardene, 79, who passed away in Canada recently as “noteworthy.

The president commended Abeywardene’s “unwavering commitment to journalism and the power of communication in fostering understanding and harmony among diverse communities living in a foreign country.”

Abeywardene who commenced his career as a freelancer on the Daily News in 1963 had a decades long career at Lake House, Times and Express Newspapers before emigrating to Canada in 1988. He founded his own newpaper, The Sri Lankan Reporter in Toronto six years later.

This publication with news from Sri Lanka circulated widely among the Sri Lankan community and attracted much advertising both from groceries offering Lankan fare and from professionals of Lankan origin offering legal and real estate services in Toronto.

His newspaper was claimed to have grown into the largest Sri Lankan newspaper in North America.A loyal old boy of St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, Abeywardene served as director at the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada.