Denzil Peiris (15 March 1917 – 6 March 1985) was the editor of ''

The Ceylon Observer ''The Ceylon Observer'' was an English-language daily newspaper in Sri Lanka published by Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL). It was founded in 1834 as ''The Observer and Commercial Advertiser'' and was published from Colombo. It ceas ...

'', published by

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

. Peiris was born on 15 March 1917, at

Gampaha Gampaha (Sinhala: ගම්පහ ; Tamil: கம்பஹா ) is an urban city in Gampaha District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is situated to the north-east of the capital Colombo. It is the sixth largest urban area in Western Province, ...

the eldest of a family of eight. He received his education at

Nalanda College Colombo ''Āpadāna Sobhinī Panñā'' , motto_translation = Character Illumines Wisdom , established = , founder = Patrick de Silva Kularatne , type = National , grades = 1 ...

. His father died whilst he was still at school so he took a job with

Lake House Lake House is an Elizabethan architecture, Elizabethan English country house, country house dating from 1578, in Wilsford cum Lake in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles north of Salisbury. It is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Gra ...

(now known as Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited) to support his family. He rose through the ranks becoming the editor of ''

Silumina Silumina ( si, සිළුමිණ) is a Sinhala language weekly 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 March 30 ...

'' in the 1950s, ''Janatha'' ( a

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

daily tabloid), ''Jana'' (an international news magazine) and eventually ''

'' in 1961, a position he retained for nine years. Peiris left Sri Lanka in the early 1970s to work as the Indian correspondent for a Hong Kong based newspaper, ''The Asian''. He then joined the ''

Far Eastern Economic Review The ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (''FEER'') was an Asian business magazine published between 1946 and December 2009 in the English language. Based in Hong Kong, the news magazine published weekly until December 2004, when it converted to a m ...

'' working as its regional editor before moving in 1979 to the United Kingdom to become the founder editor of ''South'', a magazine which concentrated on news and views from South-East Asia. He died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 6 March 1985, was cremated there, with some of his ashes buried at

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

and the remainder interred in Colombo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peiris, Denzil 1917 births 1985 deaths Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo People from Gampaha District Sinhalese journalists Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lankan editors People of British Ceylon