Vernon Corea 1927 - 2002

A tribute to Dr. Uthum Herat published in the Daily News in Sri Lanka:

Tribute
Dr. Uthum Herat (1957-2009)

It is with deep sadness that I heard of the passing away of my dear friend Dr. Uthum Herat on Friday, October 23, 2009.

I write to honour my friend. I first met Uthum in the early 1960s when he joined S.Thomas’ Preparatory School in Kollupitiya. We then moved to the ‘big’ school S.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia in 1968. Uthum was a serious, studious young man.

He excelled in his academic studies. At one stage I sat behind the same desk with Uthum Herat and Suresh Thambipillai, at S.Thomas’ College. Our friend Suresh was fascinated by the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Uthum and I used to tease Suresh no end.

He did have a sense of humour. He loved to play a friendly game of cricket at lunchtimes and on a serious note he was a member of the celebrated Thomian debating society, chess club and other Thomian Societies.

It was in the 1970s, that a charismatic former Rugby player and Old Royalist called Rev. Duleep de Chickera joined College as Chaplain. He was instrumental in bringing us into that area of belief, faith and spirituality as we turned to Christ. Uthum joined the Student Christian Movement and in later years he became a Lay Preacher in his church, - he certainly was a man of faith.

Before I left for the UK, Uthum and I participated in a celebration called ‘Breakdown and Breakthrough’ with Ronald Toussaint, Asitha Perera, Yohan Dias-Abeysinghe, Suresh Thambipillai, Johann de Silva, together with students from S.Thomas’ College, Royal College, Ladies College and Bishop’s College.

The dramatised act of worship for Easter at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour was directed by a British Religious Education worker, Gillian Todd. The newspapers featured Uthum and all of us in an article titled - ‘Easter Detente with the Now People,’ it was also featured in the Daily News and the Sunday Observer in 1974. Hundreds of people attended this act of worship.

Uthum was the cross on which Christ was crucified and we all shouted out: ‘Christ has smashed death, he has liberated the world, he has freed the Universe. You and I and everything are free again, let’s have a festival and follow him across the skies, through the flames of heaven!’

We kept in touch over the years and his last e-mail to me was only a few weeks ago when I wished him for his birthday. I last met Uthum in 2003 on a visit to Sri Lanka - we reminisced about College days.

Uthum, always the caring friend, was concerned that our son Charin was diagnosed with autism and wanted to know more about our Autism Awarness Campaign.

Uthum was a loyal son of Sri Lanka - with 27 years of public service at the Central Bank. Before being appointed as the Deputy Governor at the Central Bank, Uthum served in the Statistics Department, Economic Research Department and as an Assistant Governor in charge of Bank Supervision, Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institution Department, Financial Stability Departments and several operational departments. He has worked in areas of financial systems and price stability of the Central Bank.

Uthum was on release to IMF to serve as the Alternate Executive Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka in IMF from 2004 to 2007. He held a degree in Science from the University of Sri Jayawardenepura with a first class honours. He obtained his MSc and PhD degrees from University of Purdue, USA, where he specialized in Finance and International Finance.

He was also an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK and had authored many articles in reputed international and local journals in the areas of monetary policy, foreign exchange market, financial sector reforms, money laundering, Central Bank independence, economic growth, exchange rate, financial market deployment, unemployment and savings and investments.

Uthum was a visiting lecturer and resource person at Colombo and Moratuwa Universities, SEACEN Research and Training Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.

Uthum served as member of Monetary Policy Committee, Financial System Stability and Foreign Exchange Management Committee of the Central Bank. He was the Central Bank nominee to serve as the co-chair of the Financial Services Sub Committee for negotiations with India on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. He played a pivotal role at the Central Bank.

I will never forget childhood memories of Uthum attending my birthday parties at Maha Nuge Gardens. I will miss my friend - a kind hearted, caring gentleman with impeccable manners.

I have never heard Uthum saying a bad word against anyone. He was a gentle soul who was quiet and unassuming but he was also a deep thinker with a heart of gold.

May he rest in peace, in the arms of Christ.

- Ivan Corea

http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/11/10/fea31.asp

Vernon Corea met Uthum Herat many times when he visited the family home in Maha Nuge Gardens in Colombo-3 in the 1960s and 1970s.

In Appreciation of Dr. Uthum Herat

Dr. Uthum Herat, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka passed away on the 23/10/2009 at the age of 52 years. His death cut-off a brilliant career in the Central Bank that had commenced 27 years ago and reached its zenith when he was appointed Deputy Governor in 2009.

A product of St. Thomas’s College Mount Lavinia, Dr. Herat entered the University of Jaffna to read for a degree in Mathematics and Statistics. Due to disruptions that prevailed during the late 70s, students were relocated to the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and Dr. Herat completed the first degree with flying colours obtaining a first class honours degree in Statistics. By this time he had also completed the Final Examination of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and went on to obtain his Associate membership in 1981, Despite the possibility of obtaining lucrative employment in the private sector, Dr. Herat joined the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1983. Even at this early stage of his career he stood out, not only for his brilliance and analytical ability, but also for his single minded devotion to duty, his amazing language ability, his oratorical skills in English as well as Sinhala and most of all for his many sterling qualities, of which humility, integrity and generosity were only a few.

Throughout his career, Dr Herat was always the first to get to office and often the last person to leave. He would report to work as early as 6 am, when many of us had barely woken up for the day. Once in office, he would work diligently moving out of his seat only to attend meetings and would spend only a few minutes to grab a hasty lunch, before settling down to work again. His extraordinary language ability made him much sought out for editing documents, which although a boring task to many he would undertake willingly and perform it to perfection. In later years, Dr. Herat was unanimously appointed as the chairman of the Toast Masters Club in the Bank.

In the days before MS Power Point was available speaking before an audience on a technical subject was a difficult exercise for most of his colleagues. However, Dr. Herat was always able to keep his audience in any forum spell-bound with his oratorical skills probably honed through his experience as a lay preacher in the Methodist Church, of which he was an active member. Yet despite being eminently articulate, he was willing to listen to the view points of others and to forward his own views of matters mildly and modestly, without hurting the feelings of others. He would never force his views on others and was always humble enough to learn from his subordinates the background of any subject in which he was not completely familiar.

After a short spell in the Statistics Department, he proceeded for postgraduate studies and obtained his M.Sc and PhD degrees from the University of Purdue, USA where he specialized in Finance and International Finance. He was an outstanding doctoral student at Purdue University. In keeping with his commitment to his country, he focused his research on practical development problems facing Sri Lanka – seeking to understand the economy-wide impacts of large scale foreign aid projects. His work was thorough, and of the highest caliber, without being pretentious.

After his return, he served for a further period in the Statistics Department before being posted to the Economic Research Department as a Senior Economist. As Deputy Director of Economic Research in charge of monetary policy, he made a significant contribution to the Bank’s monetary policy formulation and implementation by streamlining the decision making process and introducing new techniques to the conduct of monetary policy. He was the main architect of establishing Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, a sub-committee of the Monetary Board which continuously reviewed the monetary conditions and made appropriate recommendations to the Board for implementation. Since its establishment in early 2002, Dr Herat functioned as the Secretary to the Monetary Policy Committee. He also played a key role in the preparation of the framework for the introduction of active Open Market Operations System by the Bank. In addition, he has continuously assisted his colleagues to raise the standards of economic research in the Bank. In recognition of these outstanding contributions, Dr Herat was awarded an “Outstanding Service Award” in 2002.

He quickly rose to be Director, Economic Research, one of the most coveted positions in the Bank. His contributions to Central Bank publications were immense. He prepared a number of policy papers for the guidance of the Monetary Board and policy oriented research papers, some of which were presented at seminars both locally and abroad.

He was released to the IMF to function as the Alternate Executive Director of the Executive Board representing India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan. On his return to the Bank, he was promoted to Assistant Governor in charge of Bank Supervision, Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, Financial Systems Stability and Finance departments. He worked determinedly to strengthen financial system stability and contributed towards averting a major crisis in the financial system following the collapse of unauthorized entities. He was promoted to Deputy Governor and Chairman of the Financial System Stability Committee in May 2009 and could serve only five short-months before his young life was cut-down in its prime. Dr. Herat was also the Central Bank’s representative on the board of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka and the Chairman of the Credit Information Bureau and the SAARC Payments Council.

Humility was one of his greatest virtues. He sought no special treatment or favors on account of his designation. No task was too menial for him to undertake and as Deputy Governor, he even did his own photocopying!. He was always thoughtful and considerate, going out of his way to help others in need. One of the thoughtful acts he performed very early in his career was to prepare a list of personal items to be taken by those proceeding for post-graduate studies which would help those suffering from home-sickness to assuage their pain.

Dr. Herat’s generosity was without bounds, though perhaps not so well known as he always insisted on anonymity when extending financial support. When there was any list to support someone suffering from ill-health or experiencing financial difficulties, Dr. Herat’s contribution was usually ten times those of others. Often when he was abroad, he would request visiting friends from Sri Lanka to carry a cheque back for some worthy cause. He would buy presents for his colleague’s children even if he had not met them at all.

Dr. Herat’s loss will be deeply felt in the Central Bank particularly at a time when the financial sector needs to be strengthened to meet greater challenges and to play a catalytic role in the development of a vibrant economy. For his colleagues, friends and family who in the last few days of his life desperately attempted to do all they could to save his life, including religious observances and meritorious activities, the grief will be unbearable. The only consolation is that Dr. Herat contributed more to the Central Bank and his country, touched more lives and helped more people than any of us could do in the biblical time span of two score years and ten. As was said of Sir Thomas More, Dr. Herat was also truly a “Man for all Seasons”.

May his soul rest in peace.

Central Bank of Sri Lanka.