Gamini Perera – chartered engineer, old boy of Royal College, Colombo, past president of the Dharmavijaya Foundation and SUCCESS Colombo, and founder of the Joint Committee of Buddhist Associations – passed away, after a brief illness, on May 6, 2010. He was 80 years.
Gamini worked as chartered engineer in Hong Kong for 14 years before returning to serve his motherland.
He was a tireless champion for Buddhist rights, and dedicated more than three decades of his life to protecting and furthering the Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka.
He brought together a number of Buddhist organisations under the umbrella of the Joint Committee of Buddhist Organisations. The committee – comprising Dharmavijaya; the All-Ceylon Buddhist Congress; the All-Ceylon Women’s Buddhist Congress; the Young Men’s Buddhist Association; the Buddhist Times; the Centre for Buddhist Action, and SUCCESS Colombo and Kandy – was set up to protect Buddhist rights, places of worship and Buddhist archaeological sites in the North and East, especially the Deegawapi.
He gave much of his time, effort and money to campaign against the unethical conversion of poor Buddhists to other faiths. He also contributed generously, through the Lady Gimara Fernando Trust, for the construction and renovation of Buddhist places of worship.
Dr. Anula Wijesundere |
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