Prince Gunarasa Casinader (Tamil: பிரின்ஸ் குணராசா காசிநாதர்; 21 July 1926 – 12 December 2018) was a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

Prince Casinader
பிரின்ஸ் காசிநாதர்
Member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
In office
1989–1994
ConstituencyBatticaloa District
Personal details
Born(1926-07-21)21 July 1926
Batticaloa, Ceylon
Died12 December 2018(2018-12-12) (aged 92)
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Political partyEelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
ProfessionTeacher
EthnicitySri Lankan Tamil

Early life and family

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Casinader was born 21 July 1926 in Batticaloa in eastern Ceylon.[1][2] He was the son of Charles Brown Casinader, a kachcheri mudaliyar, and Mildred.[3] He had four brothers (Wesley, Bertram, Noble and Kingsley).[2][3] He was educated at Vincent Girls' High School, St. Cecilia's Girls' College and Methodist Central College in Batticaloa.[2][4]

Casinader had ambitions to be a lawyer but in 1946, due to a shortage of teachers, the principal of Methodist Central College, S. V. O. Somanader, invited Casinader to be a temporary voluntary teacher at the school.[1][4] He studied at the Government Teachers' College (GTC) in Maharagama between 1950 and 1951, obtaining a diploma in education.[1][2][4]

Casinader was married to Anne.[5] He had two daughters, Praemini and Sharmini.[2]

Career

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After qualifying Casinader returned to Methodist Central College in 1952, serving as a teacher and deputy principal before becoming principal in 1975.[2][4][5][6] He retired in 1986 after 40 years of teaching at Methodist Central College.[1][4]

Casinader contested the 1989 parliamentary election as one of the ENDLF/EPRLF/TELO/TULF alliance's candidates in Batticaloa District and was elected to Parliament.[7][8]

Casinader was president of the Batticaloa Citizens’ Committee and the Batticaloa Vigilance Committee.[2][4][9] He represented Sri Lanka at Amnesty International's world conference in Amsterdam.[2] He was vice-president of the Secondary Trained Teachers’ Union, president of the Batticaloa branch of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union and a founding member of the GTC Fifties.[1][2][9] He was president of the Batticaloa Football Association and East Ceylon Travellers’ Federation, co-patron of the Ceylon Referees Association and vice-chairman of the Eastern Transport Board Consultative Committee.[1][9] He was a member of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka's board of governors.[2][4] He contributed articles for Sri Lankan newspapers and Asiaweek.[1]

Casinader died on 12 December 2018 at his home in Batticaloa.[4][9]

Electoral history

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Electoral history of Prince Casinader
Election Constituency Party Alliance Votes Result
1989 parliamentary[7][8] Batticaloa District Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front ENDLF/EPRLF/TELO/TULF 21,959 Elected

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g de Silva, W. P. P.; Ferdinando, T. C. L. (1989). 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. pp. 268–269. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Withana, Cecil (17 July 2016). "Prince Casinader of Batticaloa is 90 years old". The Island. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Obituaries". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tambimuttu, Arun (17 December 2018). "Batticaloa bids farewell to beloved Prince". The Island. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Sri Lanka would have been the loser if English had been downgraded". The Island. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 19 April 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  6. ^ Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (1 January 2006). "The benign parliamentarian from Batticaloa". Transcurrents. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ a b "Results of Parliamentary General Election – 1989" (PDF). Colombo, Sri Lanka: Election Commission of Sri Lanka. p. 33. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  8. ^ a b de Silva, W. P. P.; Ferdinando, T. C. L. (1989). 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. p. 186. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d Phakuerdeen, M. A. (14 December 2018). "Prince Casinader passes away". Daily News. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 17 December 2018.