The death occurred on Wednesday of veteran journalist Ravi Ladduwahetty (65), who worked for the Daily News and the Sunday Observer for several years. An old boy of Trinity College, Kandy, Ravi started his illustrious journalism career from The Island in 1995.
Then he joined the Daily News, where he specialised in business reporting and also contributed news and feature articles to the Sunday Observer. He next joined the Daily Mirror as a news, business and feature writer. Later, he joined The Nation. After leaving The Nation, he joined Ceylon Today. Thus Ravi had the distinction of having worked for almost all the English dailies and weeklies published in Sri Lanka.
Following his retirement from full-time journalism due to illness, he continued writing news and features to the Daily News, which was very close to his heart. He was a very versatile journalist with a wide repertoire, with a remarkable ability to write impeccable copies on almost any topic, including sports. In fact, his last contribution to the Daily News, just a few months before his untimely death, was an in-depth column on rugby. He also loved writing about cricket.
Ravi was a treasure trove of knowledge on any local or global contemporary topic and had a knack for producing lead stories for all the newspapers he worked for. He had a wide range of contacts in business, politics, the arts, academia and other fields whom he called on regularly to get “scoops”. Ravi believed in going out to the “field” to meet contacts in person and also to engage in reporting from the spot.
Ravi was a live wire of all the newsrooms he worked for and never failed to crack a joke even amidst the pressure of deadlines. He enlivened office parties and outings with his banter. He had several unique expressions in both Sinhala and English that always invoked laughter among his colleagues. He was never a clock watcher and sometimes went home only after 2 a.m., having worked from 9 a.m.
Ravi was seriously injured in a car crash in Ratnapura while he was on an assignment soon after he joined Lake House. However, he returned to work almost immediately after his discharge from hospital. The journalist in Ravi never left even amidst serious illness and he produced comprehensive news copies for the Daily News on a regular basis. Ravi has left an indelible impact on local English journalism.
His funeral arrangements will be notified later.
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