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PATRIARCH OF LANKA COMMUNITY IN CALIFORNIA DIES
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
Raja Suma (78) a patriarch of the Sri Lankan expatriate community in Southern California who has been hailed as a cultural ambassador of the island nation and a former Printer of Lake House died after a prolonged illness, Monday May 15.
A close friend, Harry Hatharasinghe said, Raja Sumanasekera, as he was known before becoming a naturalized US citizen and changed his name for a shorter one, Suma, died at Country Villa Convalescent
Home in Laguna Hills California after he was discharged from Saddleback Memorial Medical Center of the same city where he survived on a life supporting system for more than a week. His daughters permitted hospital to pull off the plugs of the machine when doctors saw no good prognosis for him , hospital sources said.
Raja Suma (Sumanasekera) proceeded to the London School of Printing , on a boat, in the 1950’s , completed a course of newspaper printing. From there he proceeded to Los Angeles on another boat selecting the sunnier climes of California as his second home.
As diplomatic influence of the Ceylon Embassy in Washington DC over California those days was limited , Rajah , took upon himself of promoting Ceylon, at the University of California at Los Angeles and other places. He took posters , banners, masks, and other paraphernalia to those shows held almost every month , said Hatharasinghe , a former airline pilot who was also an accomplished Kandyan dancer.
He said, “Raja dragged me and my wife Sudharma to these shows and helped put on my intricate dancing costumes and ornaments on my body by looking at a book since there were no instructors here. The couple performed Kandyan dancing at very many shows organized by Suma to promote Sri Lanka, he said. He added that Suma organized Sri Lanka food festivals and fashion shows using Sri Lankan ladies as part of the promotional activities.
At a time when there were no Sri Lankan Buddhist temples in the area he took up the matter with the late Piyadassi Mahathera of Vajiraramaya and pave the way to inaugurate the first meeting the Sri Lanka America Buddha Dhamma Society at a Rosewood Avenue residence in Los Angeles., that finally built the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara. He remained a trustee of the society until he broke away to form the Sarathchandra Buddhist Meditation Center in North Hollywood , where he remained active until he was struck by a stroke.
Giving up his printing career , he went to school again to become an aircraft mechanic obtaining the Federal Aviation’s Airframe and power plant licenses, learning at Northrop Aviation Institute . He served the US carrier United Airlines until retirement.
He spent a considerable amount of his wealth to help newly arriving immigrants from Sri Lanka stocking his house with used furniture and other paraphernalia stocking his house with used furniture and other utensils like refrigerators etc. to help them out to start a new home. Since he was employed at the Los Angeles International airport it was common practice for Raja to bring home stranded Sri Lankan passengers and feed them for weeks. “He was the salt of the earth in this mega polis where any visitor could feel lost after stranding at this airport,” many friends said.
Raja Suma leaves behind his former wives Yvonne Suma and Nandani Suma and two children of the first marriage.
The funeral takes place May 17 at 5 p.m. at Mc Cormic and Son Mortuary , 25000 Moulton Parkway ,Laguna Hills CA 92653 (phone 949-768-0933)
( go2lanka.com)
