Photo: CTA
Veteran Tibetan civil servant, diplomat and writer Thupten Samphel died at his home in South India at the age of 66 on June 4. The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), also known as the Tibetan Government-in-exile, where he has served for nearly 40 years in various roles, mourned his passing with an official prayer ceremony attended by all CTA officials.
Thupten Samphel was the first Executive Director of the Tibet Policy Institute (TPI), the CTA’s think tank, since its inception in 2012 and worked there until his retirement in 2018. He wrote extensively about Tibetan issue through articles, commentaries and reviews in Indian and international newspapers and journals for readers around the world. He published two novels, Falling through the Roof published by Rupa and Co in 2009 and Copper Mountain published by Blackneck Books in 2021. He also co-authored The Dalai Lamas of Tibet.
Thupten Samphel (L), Ngabo Ngawang Jigme (C) and Atisha Tenzin Phuntsok (R) during the 4th fact-finding delegation visit to Tibet in 1985
Photo: CTA
He was a member of the fourth and last fact-finding delegation to Tibet in 1985.
The former Director of TPI started his career in CTA in 1981 as Senior Clerk in the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) where he was later promoted to Deputy Secretary through special appointment. In 1986, he moved to work in GadenPhodrang Office (Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama). He worked in the Office of Tibet, Washington DC and the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office in Kathmandu, Nepal. From 1995 to 2012, he was transferred back to DIIR where he worked as the CTA’s Spokesperson and DIIR Secretary.
Photo: CTA
During the CTA’s prayer gathering for Samphel, Tharlam Dolma Changa, the officiating Sikyong said that Samphel lived a meaningful life through his considerable and much appreciated lifelong contributions to the Tibetan community and urged everyone at the gathering to draw inspiration from him and pray for his swift rebirth.
Samphel was born in 1956 in Lhasa to a family who worked for the Yabshe Taktse family. He escaped to India at the age of six along with his brother. In India, he was admitted to Tibetan Children’s Village school (TCV) for his primary education and then to high school at Dr Graham’s Home, Kalimpong. After completing his Bachelor and Masters degree in History from St Stephen College, Delhi University he was among the first group of Tibetan students to receive a Tibetan Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States where he earned a degree in Journalism from Columbia University, New York.
Print
Email