My father, Sam Wijesinha, who has died aged 93, was a former secretary general of Sri Lanka's parliament and subsequently national ombudsman. He had a distinguished record of public service in Sri Lanka and was considered an authority on parliamentary procedure in that country.
He was born into an old aristocratic family in southern Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), the youngest son of Don Aelias Wijesinha in Getamanne, a small town in Hambantota district. Having received his early education at the Getamanne rural school, he went on to Rahula College, Matara, at the age of nine – and later to Ananda College, Colombo, and S Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia.
He graduated from London University in 1944, after which he entered the Ceylon Law College and qualified as a lawyer. He became an advocate of the supreme court of Ceylon and a barrister-at-Law, Middle Temple. Undertaking postgraduate study at McGill University, Canada, he earned an LLM in aviation law. He was appointed Crown Counsel in 1948 and served in the attorney general's department until 1964, when he was appointed clerk to the House of Representatives.
In 1972, when Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka, he played a major role in helping to draft the new constitution. With the establishment of a unicameral legislature he was appointed the first secretary general of parliament. As clerk and secretary general, he represented Sri Lanka at many Commonwealth conferences and visited the UK many times with parliamentary delegations.
Retiring from parliament in 1981, he was appointed Sri Lanka's first national ombudsman. He served in this capacity for 10 years and retired for the second time in 1991. He was later appointed chancellor of the Open University.
He accomplished much in life, being a role model and mentor to many, well known for being generous with his time and his knowledge. A firm believer in the value of education, he often delved into his own pocket to help others who could not afford to undertake higher studies.
His wife, Mukta, predeceased him. He is survived by me and by my sister, Anila Dias Bandaranaike, and my brother, Rajiva Wijesinha.
