Sri Lanka Memon Family Genealogy

SURIYA - Family #296

The Suriya family, a small but prominent Memon family, traces its roots to one Haji Sulaiman Omar, who arrived in the country with his daughter, Haleema and infant son Hassim, in the aftermath of the Hindu Muslims riots of 1947 in India. He eventually settled in Kegalle town running a small business dealing in textiles. His son Hassim Omar, migrated to Colombo in 1971. In 1978, Hassim had amassed sufficient monies running a small business in Prince Street Pettah to invest in a bigger more ambitious venture Suriya Textiles in Keyzer Street. In 1984 he bought over a number of textile weaving mills in the upcountry in Mawthagama, Wattegama, Dambulla, Galewala, Ukuvila, and Matale, to start Suriya Textile Mills (pvt) Ltd., which produced for the local market and at one time employed around 1,000 staff. The factories gradually closed down beginning from the mid nineties due to market problems and he eventually moved to the import and supply of textiles for the local market under the same name from his office at 32 Third Cross Street, which he still manages.

However, Hassim is famous, not for his business activities which is no more than any ordinary run of the mill Memon concern, but for his patronage of local artistes. A much loved figure in literary circles, he finds time to present himself at the launching of vernacular Tamil and Sinhala works such as novels, short stories, and poetical compositions, purchasing the first copy with a generous sum that goes a long way to support these writers, who, despite their economic situations take immense pains to produce literary works of a high standard. In fact, he has attended about 400 such book launches, perhaps a world record. He also looks into the welfare of destitute local artistes, particularly those who have met with disabilities or some other misfortune. Among other services rendered b this large hearted man is the paying stipends to deserving students and volunteer teachers, regardless of race or creed.

Sulaiman, son of Hassim Omar, runs a multi cuisine Halal restaurant down Duplication Road called Queen's Cafe, named after a nearby street called Queen's Road. The restaurant is one that holds variety to be the spice of life and offers anything from Indian dishes, viz Buriyani & Naan, to Italian Lasagna and special mexican Enchilada's, made of chicken stuffing wrapped in tortilla rotti topped with cheese with a truly tantalizing dish.

1 Suriya

    2  Haji Sulaiman Omar Suriya

        3 Haleema Sulaiman Omar Suriya

        3 Hassim Sulaiman Omar Suriya

4 Sulaiman Hassim Suriya

Compiled by the Webmaster of the Sri Lanka Genealogy Website from available data in Sri Lankan archives together with data extracted from "Memons of Sri Lanka" - Men Memoirs Milestones, by Asiff Hussein & Hameed Karim Bhoja, May 2006, iSBN 955-1408-00-4, Published by The Memon Association of Sri Lanka