Prof. Uditha Liyanage no more

A top professional widely considered as a local marketing guru Prof. Uditha Liyanage passed away yesterday after brief illness.

Prof. Liyanage obtained his doctorate from PIM of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He was a senior faculty member in Marketing at PIM for over 20 years and served as the Director of PIM and Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Management.

 He published many articles on branding and strategic marketing in leading journals, both here and abroad, and addressed numerous local and international conferences.

He was the first-ever Sri Lankan Honorary Fellow of the Asia Marketing Federation and was a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He was also Adjunct Professor of Management of University of Canberra, Australia and counted over 15 years of experience in industry, having held senior marketing management positions in three leading companies and was on the Boards of Commercial Bank, DIMO, Chemanex and Ceylon Cold Stores.

Following the news of Uditha’s untimely death appreciations and condolences poured in yesterday.

“A beautiful life has been taken away at early an age when he could have continued to be an asset to our nation for many more years,” said senior marketer and business leader Eardley Perera.

“If there is a single person in Sri Lanka who has contributed to the consistent development of marketing thinking via research, theory and concepts that have had significant value in application, it is Prof. Uditha Liyanage. This void created by his untimely demise will take many years to fill,” Perera added.

He said Uditha leaves everyone with a legendary contribution to education, management and social development; all of this in a pursuit towards the wellbeing of the people of the country he loved.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM)’s Council, Executive Committee and staff said they were deeply saddened by the news of the passing away of Prof. Uditha Liyanage.

SLIM said Liyanage was a giant in the field of marketing and his efforts greatly supported SLIM’s vision of elevating marketing in Sri Lanka. “His achievements were recognised by our institute when he became the first ever Sri Lankan Honorary Fellow of SLIM. He was also a member of the Board of Study and held the position of ‘Advisor’ to the Organising Committee and the Panel of Judges, for SLIM Brand Excellence. Prof. Liyanage will be sorely missed by the Sri Lankan marketing fraternity,” SLIM added.