Former CDN Editor passes away
Ajith Samaranayake
COLOMBO: The death has occurred in Oxford, England of Jayantha
Padmanabha, a former Editor of the Daily News and a distinguished
scholar of English. He was 91 years.
Padmanabha was editor between H. A. J. Hulugalle and Cecil Graham.
A graduate of Oxford University, he belonged more to the university
common room than the hurly burly of a news room but he is widely
credited with enhancing the literary and cultural value of the
newspaper. In his biography of D. R. Wijewardene, H. A. Hulugalle has
written: "Jayantha Padmanabha came to the Daily News from Oxford and his
work helped to raise the quality of writing in the paper.
His prose was the envy of his colleagues and his knowledge and love
of the arts singled him out among a crowd of hard-bitten pen-pushers."
On the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Daily News, Padmanabha
was invited to send a message. He was then the Dean of the Faculty and
Head of the Department of English of the University College of Cape
Coast, Ghana.
He wrote with characteristic modesty:
"I was privileged to work at Lake House for nearly 20 years and
witness many exciting and notable changes in the history of the
newspaper and the country."
Jayantha Padmanabha belonged to a courtly tradition of letters and
deserting the news room returned to his true home in academia. His death
marks the end of perhaps the oldest editor of a national newspaper in
this country although he was for long separated from his homeland. |