Tyronne Fernando passed away [Update]

 

Sunil C. Perera in Colombo

Ex-foreign minister and senior Presidential Advisor Tyronne Fernando[67] passed away at a private hospital in Colombo.
Earlier he was appointed as the Governor of the North and East Province in 2004 by former President Chandricka Kumaratunga. Fernando who was the Foreign Minister in the Ranil Wickremasinghe government under president Kumaratunga left the United National Party (UNP) and joined the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA). He had also announced his candidature for the post of UN Secretary-General, a few years ago.

Tyronne was elected as a Member of Parliament from his Moratuwa electorate continuously for twenty-seven years from 1977.

He was a leading lawyer turned politician Tyronne Fernando, counts well over a 25 year continuous service in Sri Lanka’s Parliament. The Oxford educated Barrister-at-Law is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. He has held a range of key ministries during his long political journey, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for over eight years. He was the first Asian to become the President of the Ofxord Union Labour Club at the age of 20.
As President of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the early nineties, he built up a team, which won the World Cup in 1996.
A President Counsel, author of eight books, journalist, cricketer, film producer and an expert on international relations (who has attended numerous international conferences and meetings). Minister Fernando is currently a consultant to a drama on Nelson Mandela. In August 2002 he released his latest book ‘Alien Winds Across Paradise’ which discusses Sri Lanka’s foreign relations through the ages. A publication of Vikash of India the book takes a look at the past with a vision for a new future for Asia.