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Death of Dharmasiri Jayakody

The death occurred on Saturday of veteran journalist and author Dharmasiri Jayakody, a former Director (Editorial) of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited.

Jayakody entered journalism in 1947 as a sub-editor of the Peramuna weekly. Later that year, he joined the just-established Lankadeepa and sharpened his journalistic skills under D. B. Dhanapala and Julius de Laneralle. He was appointed editor of the Lankadeepa Sunday edition in 1952.

Equally adept at both news and feature writing, Jayakody was one of the first reporters who rushed to the scene of Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's assassination in 1956. Among his contemporaries were Peramune Thilaka, Chandraratna Manawasinghe, Mahanama Dissanayake, Ratna Deshapriya and Prins Gunasekara.

A trade union and political activist, he was remanded in the aftermath of the JVP insurrection in 1971, but was released after 10 months as investigators were unable to prove whether he had any connections with the JVP. His services at the Times Group was terminated soon afterwards.

After the takeover of ANCL by the government in 1973, he was appointed as an editorial advisor at ANCL. He re-joined the ANCL in 1994 and was appointed a director in 1995. He wrote regularly to national newspapers on local and foreign affairs.

He marked 50 years in journalism in 1997 with the publication of his book Samaja Udanaya (Social Awakening). He wrote two novels - Sathya Soya (In Search of the Truth) and Poda Wessa (Drizzle). Among his other books are Aandu Parinamaya (Evolution of Government), Sinhala Peraliya (Transformation of Sinhala) and Seda Nala Ha Gini Sila (The Storm and the Flame) an account of post-independence history which was published last year.

He also worked at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for a brief period.

He was also a secretary of the Sri Lanka Press Association and a founder member of the Afro-Asian Journalists Association.

His funeral was held yesterday. 

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