Kalasuri Ratnadurai Sivagurunathan was a (7 October 1931 – 9 August 2003)

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n journalist, lawyer, academic and editor of ''

Thinakaran Thinakaran is a daily Tamil newspaper in Sri Lanka. It is published by Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. Its sister newspaper are '' Sunday Observer'', '' Silumina'', '' Dinamina'' and '' Daily News''. The daily newspaper has a circulation ...

''.

Early life

Sivagurunathan was born on 7 October 1931 in Kantharamadam in northern

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was educated at St. John's College, Jaffna,

Jaffna Hindu College Jaffna Hindu College (; ; abbreviated as JHC) is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1887 by a group of Hinduism in Sri Lanka, Hindu people who wanted an English language alternative to the Christi ...

and

Zahira College, Colombo Zahira College (commonly known as Zahira) (, ) is an Islamic school in Maradana, Colombo, Sri Lanka, founded in 1892 as Al Madrasathul Zahira by Islamic lawyer and educationalist, M. C. Siddi Lebbe, with the patronage of Ahmed Orabi, Ahmed Orab ...

. After school he joined the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

, Peradeniya. He then entered

Ceylon Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enrol as an Attorney-at-Law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Le ...

, qualifying as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

Career

Sivagurunathan joined the ''

'' in 1955 and worked as a reporter, sub-editor and lobby correspondent. He also worked for the ''

Dinamina Dinamina () is a Sinhala language daily newspaper in Sri Lanka. It is published by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House), a government-owned corporation. The newspaper commenced publishing in 1909. It was founded by the Sinhale ...

'', another newspaper published by the

Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL), also known as Lake House, is a print media company in Sri Lanka. It publishes three daily, three weekend, five weekly, two monthly and three annual publications in Sinhala, English and Tamil. Ass ...

. He was appointed news editor of the ''Thinakaran'' in 1957, becoming its chief editor in 1961. He held this position until 1994. Sivagurunathan obtained a MA degree from the

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna (, ''Yāpanaya Wiśwawidyālaya''; ; abbreviated UoJ) is a public university in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Established in 1974 as the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka, it became an independent, autonomous university in 1 ...

whilst working as a journalist. He was president of Working Journalists Association of Sri Lanka and a member of the Press Council.

Later life

Sivagurunathan was a visiting lecturer at

Sri Lanka Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enrol as an Attorney-at-Law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Le ...

and the

Open University of Sri Lanka The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL; , ) is a national university in Sri Lanka. It is unique within the Sri Lankan national university system for being the only university to offer programs of study leading to certificate, diploma, degrees ...

. Sivagurunathan was president of Colombo Tamil Sangam and was awarded the

Kalasuri The Kala Suri (; ) is a Sri Lankan Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded "''for special contributions to the development of the arts''". It is conventionally used as a title or prefix to the awardee's name. Kala Suri ranks lower than V ...

title, a Sri Lankan national honour, for his services to journalism. Sivagurunathan died on 9 August 2003 in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivagurunathan, R 1933 births 2003 deaths Academic staff of Sri Lanka Law College Academic staff of the Open University of Sri Lanka Alumni of Jaffna Hindu College Alumni of St. John's College, Jaffna Alumni of the University of Ceylon Alumni of the University of Jaffna Alumni of Zahira College, Colombo Ceylonese advocates Kala Suri People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan academics Sri Lankan newspaper editors Sri Lankan newspaper journalists Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan lawyers