Dr. Silverine Doris Samaranayake

Silverine Doris Samaranayake, MD, died in May 2024 in California. She was a spouse to Nandasiri; mother to Ruwanthi and Nilanthi; mother-in-law to Angelo and Josh; grandmother to Gianna and Amalia; sister to Percy, Shiela, Malinee, and Nalana; aunt to Tilani, Vajit, Priyantha, Manjula, and Dilshani; doctor to thousands of patients during a 55-year career at hospitals in Sri Lanka and in the State of Maryland, for the University of Maryland, and in private practice; and dear friend to those she loved.

Dr. Samaranayake graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ceylon and became a rare female physician in the 1960s. After roughly a decade, she sought a new life for her family and moved halfway around the world to the United States. As a proud mother, she consistently emphasized the value of education to her daughters.

Doris’s hobbies during her life included playing the piano, gardening, exploring new countries, and listening to Lawrence Welk and Hawaiian music. Most recently, she was focused on bringing her expertise in psychiatry gained in the United States to Sri Lanka through the development of a nonprofit organization called the Alliance for Awareness of Mental Illness (AAMI). Prayer services to remember her are being held in Palmdale, California; Washington, D.C.; Sri Lanka; and Singapore. May she attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana.