GLF Founder Geoffrey Dobbs passes away at 73

Tuesday, 25 August 2026 06:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Geoffrey Dobbs

Galle Literary Festival (GLF) founder, hotelier and philanthropist Geoffrey Dobbs has passed away at the age of 73.

Dobbs passed away at his home, Dorothy House, in Wells, England, on 18 August.

An Anglo-Australian, Dobbs moved to Sri Lanka from Hong Kong in the mid-1990s and became closely associated with the country’s southern coast. He restored several historic properties, including Taprobane, the island off Weligama where he lived and entertained, and The Sun House in Galle, regarded as one of Sri Lanka’s early boutique hotels.

Dobbs founded the Galle Literary Festival following a conversation with Sri Lankan writer Romesh Gunesekera in London. The festival was launched in 2007, with Dobbs serving as its founder-organiser, and he remained associated with it until his death.

He was also involved in several philanthropic initiatives following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which he survived while swimming near Taprobane with his brother Michael. His initiatives included Adopt Sri Lanka and Fish and Ships, which supported community rehabilitation and the rebuilding and repair of the local fishing fleet. His tsunami-related charities raised $ 5 million.

Dobbs also supported exchange programs linking Sri Lankan teachers and schoolchildren with international institutions.

In 2015, he introduced “Tuk Tuk Polo”, a sport in which players riding in three-wheelers use mallets to strike a ball, as an alternative to elephant polo.

Dobbs was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School in England, Trinity College Dublin and Cambridge, and had earlier worked in marketing and publishing, including in Hong Kong, Pakistan and Bengal.