Architect Jaimini Samaraweera passes away

SRI LANKAN born Chartered Architect Jaimini Samaraweera (59), who had adopted the Fiji Islands as his home since 1986 and designed and developed some of the most distinctively 'Pacific Island styled' buildings in the Fiji Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga over a quarter of a century, passed away in Fiji yesterday.

Working in a region that he had grown to love, he established his own firm of architects, Jaimi Associates, in Suva and developed offices in Tonga as his reputation and work grew in the region.

Notable among the many projects and awards he won are the National Centre for Culture and Arts conceived as a museum for the Fiji Society and Heritage, the Pacific Regional Seminary consecrated by Pope John Paul II, and the Meeting Hall for Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs.

Jaimini obtained his qualifications as a Chartered Architect in the UK and is an old boy of Nalanda College and S. Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia.

He is the son of the late Minister Mahanama Samaraweera and Mrs. Khema Samaraweera and brother of Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Mrs. Jayanthi Gunewardena. He was the Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in Fiji.

The cremation will take place in Fiji and the ashes will be brought down to Sri Lanka.