Editors’ Guild mourns Gamini Weerakoon’s passing away

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka expresses its profound sorrows at the passing away of a founder member of The Guild, Mr. Gamini Weerakoon.   
Mr. Weerakoon was the former Editor of The daily Island and Sunday Island.   
He joined Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., as a parliamentary reporter in 1966 after abandoning his under graduate studies at the Science and later Law Faculty of the University of Ceylon (Colombo).  

Mr. Weerakoon rose to the position of News Editor of the Ceylon Observer and Ceylon Daily News and specialized in international affairs. He covered several Non Aligned summits and interviewed a wide range of foreign presidents and prime ministers during his long and distinguished professional career.   
He was invited as guest of the governments of the United States of America, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan and France.   
Mr. Weerakone was a board member of the Regional Institute of Strategic Studies headquartered in Colombo funded by the Ford Foundation and Japan Foundation.   
He later joined the Upali Group of Newspapers as a News Editor of the Daily Island and Sunday Island and later became the Editor of both publications.   
Subsequently, he joined The Sunday Leader as Consultant Editor and thereafter wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Times.   
The Guild mourns his passing away.