Mervyn De Silva was a Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n journalist. He was the Editor in Chief

Editor in chief

An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...

 of Lake House and of the Times of Ceylon, editor of the Ceylon Daily News, Lanka Guardian

He was educated at the Royal College Colombo

Royal College Colombo

The Royal College of Colombo was founded in January 1835 in Colombo. It is considered to be the leading Public School in Sri Lanka...

 and at the University of Ceylon

University of Ceylon

The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the University of Sri Lanka which existed from 1973 to 1978. In 1978 it was...

, where he was a contemporary of Felix Dias Bandaranaike

Felix Dias Bandaranaike

Felix Reginald Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician who served as Cabinet Minister of Finance, Parliamentary Secretary for the Prime Minister and Defence and External Affairs and Cabinet Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister...

. He was involved in the establishment of the Council of World Affairs with Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Anton Muttukumaru

Anton Muttukumaru

Major General Anton M. Muttukumaru, OBE, ED, ADC, CLI was the first Ceylonese Army officer to serve as Commander of the Ceylon Army , a post he held from 1955 to 1959. He also served as Ceylon's High Commissioner to Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ambassador to Egypt.-Early life and...

 and initiated the Foreign Affairs Advisory Group along with Gamani Corea

Gamani Corea

Deshamanya Gamani Corea is a Sri Lankan economist, civil servant and diplomat. He was the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1974 to 1984, Ceylon's Ambassador to the EEC, Belgium, Luxembourg and...

, Lakshman Kadirgamar

Lakshman Kadirgamar

Sri Lankabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar PC was a Sri Lankan diplomat, politician and a lawyer. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2001 and again from April 2004 until his assassination in August 2005...

, Stanley Jayewardene and Gamini Wijesinghe.

Family life

De Silva married Lakshmi Fernando, Dayan Jayatilleka

Dayan Jayatilleka

Dayan Jayatilleka is a Sri Lankan Diplomat, Political scientist and an author.He was Ex Minister of Planning & Youth Affairs in the North-East Provincial Council in 1988–89 and also served as the permanent mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva from 2007 to 2009. Thereafter was the...

is the only child and he is a politician and diplomat.