Appreciation: Oscar Gunewardena

Oscar Sarath Alwis Wijesiri Gunewardena (OSAW) was born on 3 September 1928 in the village Mihiripanna, south of Sri Lanka. His father J.A.W. Gunewardena was a Government Surveyor of the Department of Survey. The surveyors were generally confined to rural areas, but he migrated and settled in Colombo to provide the best education to his children. 

I came to know Oscar Uncle in 1979 when Chandani and I were occupying the annex in his parental home in Isipathana Mawatha (old name Greenlands Road), Colombo 5. During weekends Uncle visited his mother Robert Aunt (Sugunawathie) with his wife Sriya and the children, Duminda, Padmika, Saman and Samantha. Uncle’s siblings were late Iris Nanayakkara (Colombo 5), Doreen Jayamaha (Melbourne, Australia) and the late Padma/Shani Jayawardene (Surrey, England).

Oscar Uncle’s early education was accomplished at Richmond College, Galle. He sat for the fifth standard entrance examination held by Royal College, Colombo and was successful in entering the college and completing the secondary education there. Even though he entered the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Colombo, within one year he dropped out and joined Gal Oya Development Board (GODB) in Inginiyagala in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. That was the showpiece of modern independent Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In 1958, he joined Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya as a teacher in Physics and Applied Mathematics and retired after serving for 25 years. 

Pradeepa Jayawardena and Dhammika Peiris were two students of Oscar Uncle in Dharmapala, presently residing in Ajax, Ontario Province, Canada. Dhammika and Pradeepa recalled that Oscar Uncle was well-versed in Sinhala and English languages. He translated the Sinhala book of poetry “Ge Piya Samara” (181 pages) written and published by the renowned Sinhala literary scholar Munidasa Kumaranatunga in 1999, to English. That was no meagre task, considering the scholarly standard of this piece of legendary Sinhala literature. He published his own book of poetry titled “Bubbles”. He also did other translations of books from Sinhala to English. 

His daughter Padmika had these fond thoughts about her father: “His interests spanned far and wide from sciences, mathematics, engineering, literature, history, Buddhism, other faiths, mythology, anthropology, astronomy, artificial intelligence, new technologies to motor mechanics, sports and many more. He was eminently well read and had a vast knowledge in the areas of his interests. His intelligence was like I had never seen before, with a thinking far ahead of his time and our time. He always had nonconformist ideologies. He was a humble and very sincere person and never believed in societal niceties. He did not boast or drop names. And did not know how to make small talk, to the point of being awkward in company, unless he could exchange ideas on a common subject of interest. All his expressions were intrinsically true to his heart; a human being unspoilt and untouched by social norms. Thaththa’s sensitivity was so keen that it was uncanny, seeming to read our minds, most times. He was idiosyncratic and loved us, his children, in his own special way.” 

Oscar Uncle would have completed 97 years of life in September, this year, but passed away peacefully on 14 July 2025. He was well looked after by his children in his own home with all the comforts he ever wanted. According to his wishes, the body was handed over to the Colombo Medical College. May his journey in Samsara be short and may he realise the Ultimate Truth. 

Senaka Samarasinghe,

Winnipeg, Canada