His talents went beyond Sri Lanka’s shores

Eustace Fernando passed away in the United States on November 26, last year, after surgery, a month before his 82nd birthday.
He was a civil engineer and had been resident in America for over 40 years, during which time he had on several occasions visited Sri Lanka.

Eustace was the second son of a senior government medical officer, the late Dr. J.S. Fernando and Mrs. Fernando. He was educated at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo where he was a hosteller. Eustace was both an excellent student and sportsman and exemplified the old dictum, ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’. He excelled in Mathematics and Physics, and together with his elder brother Dennis represented the college in soccer and hockey. He matriculated quite early and joined the Ceylon Technical College to qualify as an engineer and obtained his B.Sc. Engineering degree.

His first major assignment was the construction of the swimming pool at St. Joseph’s College. He was handpicked for this by Rector Fr. Peter A. Pillai.

Some of the other projects handled by him were the Aquinas College science building, Otters swimming pool and the Lionel Wendt Memorial Theatre. Thereafter, he worked with French engineers on the Gal Oya project and later obtained a scholarship for technological studies in France through their good offices. He went on to earn a B.Sc in Engineering from the University of London and an M.S. in Industrial Management Engineering from Columbia University.

He married Eulalie, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Rao who were family friends and moved to the United States. In the mid-fifties he was employed by the Rohr Corporation, Amman and Whitney Consulting Engineers and the United Nations. During this time he worked on the George Washington and Verrazano bridges. Subsequently, invited by Dr. Gamini Corea to work in Sri Lanka, under the UNDP, he was UN advisor to the Ministry of Plan Implementation for five years. Back in the States he took UN assignments for building roads, bridges and other maintenance projects in Afghanistan, the Philippines and Thailand.

On his retirement he settled down permanently with his family in New Rochelle in New York State. Eustace was an ardent and convinced Catholic and loyal son of the Church. He never flagged in his concern for the poor and in his quest for social justice.
At his funeral service, reference was made to this and his complete devotion to the Universal Church. He is survived by his wife and five children, Peter, Mary, Anne, Andrew and Christopher, and his three sisters and five grandsons. They can truly be proud of Eustace Peter Canisius, a man for all seasons.

May he rest in peace.

By R.A.F.