WSU International Business Professor Dharma de Silva has died. He was 83 years old. De Silva led the World Trade Council and taught international business for more than 40 years.
Dharma de Silva was a force to be reckoned with, according to his wife Deema de Silva, who also worked for decades at Wichita State. She says her husband of more than 50 years was a pure academic and insisted that the standards of WSU's College of Business be as good as any in the country. Deema got a condolence call from one of Dharma's students who now lives in Switzerland.
"She said, 'We had to keep excellent standards in everything we did, and then we also had to eat his spicy food when he invited us home.' He prepared food and invited them to have dinner with him. That was his joy," de Silva says.
Dharma De Silva studied at Harvard and Stanford. He also started the first business school in his native country, Sri Lanka. Dharma brought in leaders from around the world to consider doing business in Wichita.
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A celebration of life event for Dr. deSilva is scheduled for 3 p.m. April 15 at the Olive Tree banquet hall, 2949 N. Rock Road, Wichita.
Carla Eckels is assistant news director and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.
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