Sam Wijesinha

Samson Senapala Samarakoon Wijesinha (27 June 1921 – 31 August 2014) was a Sri Lankan politician who assumed the role of Clerk to the House of Representatives from 1964 to 1972 and Secretary General of Parliament from 1978 to 1981. A Crown Counsel to the Attorney General's Department of Ceylon from 1948 to 1964, he was also the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration for Sri Lanka from 1981 to 1991.

Early life and education Samson Senapala Samarakoon Wijesinha was born in Getamanna, a small town in Hambantota District on 27 June 1921 to Don Aelias Wijesinha. He had three older sisters and two older brothers, each sibling four years older than the next. He was a direct descendant of the first Head Mudaliyar of Portuguese Ceylon, Don Diaz Abeysundere Samarakone.

Wijesinha first attended Rahula College, Matara, then received higher education at Ananda College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia.

Legal and political career In 1948, Wijesinha was appointed as Crown Counsel to the Attorney General's Department until 1964, when he assumed the role of Clerk to the House of Representatives.

In 1965, Wijesinha served as the secretary for the Ceylonese delegation to the 11th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Wellington, New Zealand, led by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet MInister of State, D. P. Atapattu.

When Ceylon became independent from the British Empire as Sri Lanka, Wijesinha helped draft the 1972 constitution. Thereafter, he was appointed the Secretary General of Parliament in 1978, and oversaw the legislative efforts that reshaped Sri Lanka's democracy.

Later years In 2013, Wijesinha was awarded the prestigious Sepala Gunasena Award for Courageous Journalism in the Defence of Press Freedom in Sri Lanka by the Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka.

On the evening of 31 August 2014, Wijesinha died at his house, Lakmahal, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was buried at the Kanatte Cemetery the evening after.

Personal life During the 1941 Royal–Thomian Cricket Encounter, Wijesinha met and became friends with Mukta Wickremesinghe, the only sister of Esmond Wickremesinghe and Lakshman Wickremesinghe. They married in 1948 and had three children: Sanjiva, Anila and Rajiva.

Legacy On 18 March 2012, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe both wrote an article in The Sunday Times Plus Section, titled: "Lasting Links from the Giruwa Pattuwa" and "Sam Mama's Parliament" respectively. Rajapaksa wrote about Wijesinha's roles and his friendship with Rajapaksa's father, D. A. Rajapaksa; Wickremesinghe wrote about the 'Sunday lunches' with Wijesinha's family and the knowledge he got from him.

In , Anila's daughter Anisha Dias Bandaranaike established the Lakmahal Community Library in Wijesinha's house. She told Roar Media, then a news publisher, that the establishment of the library was mainly due to her grandfather's love for reading and writing books.