A CHARMING GENTLEMAN

The late Suren Wickremasinghe was the son of the Late Dr S. A. Wickremasinghe, Leader of the Communist party, and his English wife Doreen. Both the latter were Members of Parliament. Suren chose another path , that of architecture, qualified in Russia where he met and married fellow student Tanya, his soul mate. Suren and I were friends from our youth and continued our friendship till his untimely death. He and Tanya began their architectural firm Tanya and Suren which is now run by two of their children, Maya and Sasha. Sonia lives in England. Suren was an extremely popular man who was also at one time President of the Hill Club and The Eighty Club. He was an excellent President of both clubs. He was Chairman of the UDA during President Chandrika Kumaratunge’s tenure as President and was an exceptional Chairman. Tanya fitted in very well here and was a great strength to Suren in both his work and in other respects as well. Suren was a man with no axe to grind, never on the make, full of laughter, good humour and smiles, had great charm and was a loyal, sincere friend who I miss very much. His sister Surya is a well known lawyer.