A lifelong friend and great teacher to thousands

It was with profound sorrow that we came to know of the departure of our friend Parane just two days prior to his 75th birthday (July 28). The intended warm birthday greetings were hurriedly turned into condolences.

Cyril Paranavithana entered the Peradeniya University in 1964 among us, all strangers coming from all corners of the country. Paranavithana soon befriended us with his easygoing, humble and charming manners. For us, he was always ‘Parane’.

Parane hailed from Unawatuna from a well respected family with links to the famous archaeologist, Prof. Senarath Paranavithana. He always recounted the great support he received from his mother and the sister after his father passed away at an early age. He was groomed by Hikkaduwa Central College having proceeded there on a Fifth Standard government scholarship.

At Peradeniya, he offered the rare combination of Mathematics with arts subjects in his first year, and came out with flying colours at the General Arts Qualifying Examination in 1965. He opted to specialize in Statistics well knowing the absence of qualified lecturers in the Department and succeeded in convincing the formidable Prof. H.A. De S. Gunasekera, the Chair and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the time, to allow him to follow his chosen field with selfstudy.

Parane was meticulous in his studies, combing through the seven storeyed University Library to ensure that he did not overlook any book on Statistics. He spent the next three years rigorously following his studies, sharing his knowledge, and enjoying campus life like all of us.

He sat the final examination in 1968 and secured a Second Class Upper Division Honours Degree in Statistics – the first student to do so in many years. He was one of the first to be absorbed into the permanent academic staff in the Department of Economics. Proceeding to the UK on a Commonwealth scholarship, he earned his MSc in econometrics and quantitative economics at the University Of Manchester and his Ph.D. in econometrics in 1977 from the University of Southampton for the thesis on “A quarterly econometric study of the U.K. labour sector 1955-1966”. On his return to Peradeniya, he served to make statistics and econometrics popular mainstream subjects in the Department of Economics. He loved teaching, and in turn was adored as a model lecturer by all his students.

Parane was one of the great academics that the University of Peradeniya failed to retain. Our loss was a gain to the global community. He pursued his teaching career at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria and after a few years moved to the USA, to work in the corporate sector. He never gave up his passion for teaching and continued to teach statistics part-time in several US liberal arts colleges

While in Maiduguri, Parane acquired his rarest treasure, Cora - his beloved wife from the Philippines. Cora was a constant pillar of strength, the livewire who helped him to succeed in the individualistic and competitive US setting.

Parane was a rare binary in human affairs. He was self-made because he basically acquired academic glory sans lecturers and self-less because he generously shared that hard-earned knowledge with his peers competing with him for academic excellence. In an unmatched gesture of friendship and generosity, he shared with friends his new Peugeot 404 - a luxury acquired through hard earned savings those days.

Kusuma, his only sibling, cannot hold back her tears explaining how he meant everything to her and her family. She still fondly treasures his school awards, photos, and other memorabilia.

Parane suddenly suffered a major setback in health. Cora with her loving care and devotion, lightened his suffering, ably supported by her beloved sons - Feodor and Ravi. We are most grateful to Cora and Feo for arranging a final reunion with his close friends and relatives here in 2019. We still fondly recall his clear delight at seeing us.

Parane was a lifelong friend to us; a dedicated professional; a great teacher to thousands; a true friend to many colleagues in different lands; and a truly remarkable and unique human being. His untimely departure has produced sadness and tears but his memories will be cherished forever.