A TRIBUTE TO A GREAT MAN ON HIS 95TH BIRTHDAY

Former Director-General and Chairman of the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka and the Founder Chairman of the South Asia Insurance Regulators’ Forum. Patron, Insurance Assessors and Engineers Association of Sri Lanka.

- BY Dr. DAYANATH JAyAsuRIYA P. C.

“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained in sudden flight but, they while their companions slept, they were toiling upwards in the night.”

The above words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - one of the monumental cultural figures of nineteenth-century America and the nation's preeminent poet in his era - aptly describes the life and times of Chandra Thomas Adolphus Schaffter who will be celebrating his 95th birthday on April 3, 2025.

At a regional law conference held at the BMICH in the 1990s I found myself seated next to an elderly gentleman with long grey hair immaculately dressed in a white suit. I had sponsored through the United Nations several Indian delegates to attend it. I turned to him during the long wait for the Chief Guest as to from which part of India he was from. He laughingly said “Iam Chandra Schaffter 100% Sri Lankan” and asked me why I assumed he is from India. My reply was that in India I have seen many distinguished people in full white suits.