Aubrey V. Raymond was born in Kandy in May 1938, a year and three months and fourteen days before the Great War started. His early years were on the move, from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, to escape the ravages of the war. During the later part of the war, the family moved from Nuwara Eliya to Colombo, joining his father, Sydney.

Then, as now, A. F. Raymond Limited was based at our existing premises of 115/117, Base Line Road, Colombo 8. Sydney and Family moved around Colombo, from Campbell Place to McCallum Road, to where the family finally settled, Buller’s Road in 1958, the same year that 20 year old Aubrey joined the firm.

From 1958 till he passed in 2023, Aubrey was the driving force behind the company. His first few years at A. F. Raymond Limited were defined by strife, with his uncles – Sydney’s brothers – squabbling both for business as well as land. Aubrey, being the youngest of six siblings, was always the one who fought for what was right. Soon, the uncle who was diverting business to another firm, was politely asked to leave. Years later, the land the uncle “borrowed” from A. F. Raymond was reclaimed by Aubrey in a dramatic “night of action” that involved a squad of policemen and a quarrel of lawyers.

Aubrey, being a part of the third generation of Raymonds’ to work and then head the firm had the unique distinction of working with his brother Maurice for the funerals of Ceylon’s founding fathers, D. S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake and later, after Maurice had migrated to Australia, Sir John Kotelawala.

Aubrey was ahead of his time, spotting the need to booster the environment with his ‘Grow More Trees’ campaign in the early ‘70’s. Towards the end of his tenure as Chairman, Aubrey sponsored a drive to plant 1,000 trees across the country. Never one to seek attention for himself, Aubrey went out of his way to seek support for other causes such as places that cared for the old and the infirm and terminally ill. Under his tenure, the company began charity drives unlike anything it had done before. To this day, the Raymond Revelers, a carol group of friends and family organized initially by Aubrey, collect money to distribute to the needy.

In his sixty four year career as a Funeral Director, Aubrey saw events that change our society as never before such as the two plane crashes and the tsunami of 2004. The thirty plus year civil war and uprisings in the South, were a constant source of sadness to Aubrey who, together with Shannon and Keith had to deal with the indiscriminate loss of life on both sides of the conflict. Aubrey and the staff of A. F. Raymond twice drove away the mob that began the riots of ’83 from the office premises.

Always quick with a joke with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, Aubrey made it a point to emphasize that funerals were not for the dead, but for the living. As such, his philosophy was the company should be able to give whatever a customer required. For the funeral of Ven. Weliwitiye Sri Soratha Thera on the 17th of July 1963,A. F. Raymond Limited were called to build the tallest “saaya” ever built. A task that Aubrey oversaw with aplomb. The saaya was seven stories tall and to this date, the tallest ever built in - at that time - Ceylon.

The company, A. F. Raymond Limited, celebrates 140 years this year, 2025. Of that time, Aubrey was an active part of it for 64 years, shaping the company, infusing it with his own brand of values. As the fourth generation of Raymonds’ take the helm, they know the task ahead has been laid down by Aubrey – to continue to ‘Silently Serve The Nation’ for the foreseeable future.