Irish America, December 2010 / January 2011

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THE ANNUAL BUSINESS 100

IRISH AMERICA DEC. 2010 / JAN. 2011 Canada $4.95 U.S. $3.95

COACH KELLY

Bringing the Green Back to Notre Dame

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DON KEOUGH First Irish America Hall of Fame Inductee DUBLIN, OHIO A celebration of heritage W.B. YEATS & THE MUSES The women behind the poet

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IRISH AMERICA 98

58

34

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92 F E AT U R E S

34 KELLY GREEN AT NOTRE DAME: Coach Brian Kelly talks to Niall O’Dowd.

41 BUSINESS 100: Our 25th annual celebration of the best and the brightest Irish American business leaders.

58 THE CORPORATE CHIEFTAIN: Donald Keough, former chairman and COO of CocaCola, is the inaugural Irish America Hall of Fame honoree. By Kevin Whelan and Niall O’Dowd.

88 CELTIC THUNDER: How the all male group is taking the world by storm. Story and interview by Aliah O’Neill.

92 W.B. YEATS ¶ THE MUSES: James Flannery reviews Yeats Joseph M. Hassett’s new work.

96 CONCERN IN HAITI: Tom Moran writes about why we can’tgive up on Haiti.

98 WAR & PEACE IN IRELANDI: Christine Kinealy’s new book. is set to become a standard reference.

78 BOXING BUDDIES: The friendship between boxing champ Gene Tunney and George Bernard Shaw is explored in a new book by Tunney’s son, Jay. Story by Sheila Langan.

102 IRELAND’S VIKING HERITAGE: The legacy of the Vikings in Ireland.

84 DUBLIN’S FAIR CITY: Kristin Cotter McGowan explores Dublin, Ohio’s Irish heritage.

112 IRELAND IN CRISIS: John Spain examines the economic disaster facing Ireland.

4 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

DEPARTMENTS

COVER PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI

December / January 2011 Vol. 26 No. 1

6 8 12 14 28 32 100 104 106 108 114

The First Word Readers Fourm Irish Eye on Hollywood Hibernia News in Brief Quotes Books Roots Crossword Those We Lost Photo Album

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{the first word}

By Patricia Harty

IRISH AMERICA

iall O’Dowd returned from interviewing Coach Brian Kelly with a story of a cab driver he met – an immigrant from Africa who had seen little of America outside of South Bend, Indiana. When the cabbie learned that Niall was Irish, he exclaimed with admiration, “You Irish, you own everything over here!”

Watching the televised game between Notre Dame and Utah and witnessing the sea of green that surrounded the win by coach Kelly’s team, one could only concur with the cab driver’s summation.

We sure have done a great job of branding. The Mad Men component of our Business 100 would agree. The fact that Notre Dame is actually in Paris is a mere technicality. The Irish own the brand.

(Astonishingly, the famous school that educated so many Irish Catholics and set them on the road to top careers, including a major percentage of our Business 100, didn’t have an Irish Studies program until our Irish America Hall of Fame honoree Donald Keough made it happen. But that was 20 years ago, and today, Notre Dame is home to one of the finest Irish Studies programs in the world.)

How the Irish went from being a maligned immigrant group (when Barney McGinniskin became the first Irish police officer in Boston in 1851, commentators of the day suggested that it was “a cultural conflict”), to one of the most vital, colorful and successful groups in America, is a story that has many strands.

Education was certainly one of the major factors. Also, a steady stream of new immigrants from Ireland kept the brand alive, and the Irish American dream aloft.

Alas, these days the story of the Irish in America is most often told in the past tense.

A debate on immigration telecast live from the University of San Diego on Nov. 16 focused exclusively on Hispanics and the issues they are facing. There was nary an Irish face present with the exception of the moderator Lawrence O’Donnell.

The Irish were mentioned but only as the primary example of an immigrant group who had succeeded despite a poor start.

I wish all our troubles were in the past. But Ireland is again in time of crisis. And with America’s closed-door policy, the safety hatch that the Irish found here has been nailed shut. Soon, those Irish Studies programs may be the only way for Irish Americans to learn about Irish culture

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6 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

PHOTO: KIT DE FEVER

Putting the Fight Back in the Irish

and heritage – they won’t learn it firsthand from their immigrant cousins.

It is hard to come to terms with the fact that Ireland once again needs help. And as in the past, the Irish at home are reaching out to Irish America.

As we were about to go to press on this issue, I received a phone call from a woman in Ireland who I will call Mrs. H. “Can’t you do something for the banks in Ireland?” she asked in a voice of a mother commanding a child to “clean up your room, immediately!”

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon here so it was night time in Ireland. I’m guessing Mrs. H. was watching the news and the situation in Ireland had her panicked.

“It’s an awfully big problem,” I offered, a bit brusquely, as I began to mutter about being in a meeting, but Mrs. H. wasn’t about to let me off the hook. “Surely someone in New York can help?” she insisted. “Don’t you know Brian Moynihan?”

Mrs. H. was still talking as I hung up. Now I feel guilty about giving her such short shrift.

And I feel guilty also because I haven’t answered an e-mail from a young Irish college graduate who is looking for a job in publishing and wants my advice. Her boyfriend has an Irish law degree and passed the New York bar first time out. He’s interested in aviation law but would take anything.

He just wants a job too, like his girlfriend.

Perhaps Mrs. H. is right, and some of you on our Business 100 list can help. We can’t let Ireland go down without a fight. Maybe you can offer an internship for an Irish college graduate at one of your companies, maybe you can do more.

One thing is for sure, if something doesn’t happen soon, Ireland stands to lose its economic sovereignty and jeopardize its corporate tax incentives, which would severely limit its ability to attract new business (that’s according to a friend of mine who understands such stuff).

The intricacies of high finance are beyond me but I think I have come up with a brilliant way to help Ireland and have fun doing it. Let’s all go for a visit! After all, no matter how far-flung we may be, we are family. So let’s head on over there – believe me, a busload of Americans would receive a welcome like never before.

Mrs. H., put on the tea kettle.

IA Interested in an Irish America reader’s trip to Ireland? Contact Kate@irishamerica.com. or speak to Kerman at 212 725 2993 x 150.

Mortas Cine Pride In Our Heritage

Founding Publisher: Niall O’Dowd Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief: Patricia Harty Vice President of Marketing: Kate Overbeck Director of Special Projects: Turlough McConnell Art Director: Marian Fairweather Assistant Editor: Kara Rota Copy Editor: John Anderson Advertising & Events Coordinator: Kerman Patel Financial Controller: Kevin M. Mangan Writers: Tara Dougherty Sheila Langan Marketing Intern: Amanda Cunniff

IRISH AMERICA 875 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 201, New York NY 10001 TEL: 212-725-2993 FAX: 212-244-3344

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IRISH AMERICA IS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

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readers forum THE IRISH COLLECTION Marilyn Cole Lownes’ article and accompanying photos from the collection of Sean Sexton was itself more than worth the price of a subscription to IA. I spent quite a long time perusing each well-chosen photo but was especially drawn to the photo (at left)

by John Gregory Grace, as my maternal ancestors lived on the western edge of the Duke of Devonshire’s estate, in Kilphilibeen, near Conna, Cork, in that period (c. 1853); now I have a better feeling for how they might have looked and dressed. How evocative are the facial expressions of each of the four people in that photo!

Joan Madigan Masello, Evanston, Illinois

A RARE WINDOW ON IRELAND’S PAST As always, and especially after you did such a great job on the An Gorta Mor June/July edition, we wondered what you would do for an encore, or what you could do to best that, or what more you could do to excel every time? Well, by what we now see in your latest Oct/Nov edition, may we say that you continue to raise the standard of quality of the contents of Irish America magazine.

What a treat those remarkable old photographs from Sean Sexton are. We love them. The one on the cover – wow!

Frozen in time. Everything in life changes – time, places, people – except photographs, that is. Maybe they too fade a little over time, but they last much better than the scenes and images themselves.

The particular Claddagh Galway area and district features have changed drastically in the interim but the c. 1900 photograph on your cover freezes the old scene permanently and forever in time. Therein lies

the magical wonder of these old photographs, invaluable and irreplaceable.

Doing household chores back then, when there was no running water in the house (even I remember those times myself), involved very laborious work: constantly having to draw water for washing and cooking from the well, or pump, similar to the one shown in your cover photograph, showing three brave generations, all barefoot, including the youngest who seemed more interested in the filling of the container with water – the important job at hand – and leaving the task of paying attention to the photographer to the two older women.

What a thorough job you’ve done.

You’ve got us talking, talking, and talking about these wonderful photographs.

We see why you didn’t mind having to work on your day off on Labor Day. It was a labor of love. Pure and simple.

Jim and Bridget Cagney Sunnyside, New York

Tom Harkins, Needham, Massachusetts

8 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

A letter writer in your last issue (Oct./Nov.) urged readers to contact Comedy Central regarding Daniel Tosh’s comments [that Ireland was the birthplace of white trash]. One only needs to look at the Irish signers of the Declaration of Independence, read the names of those who served on both sides during the Civil War, see the scratches on [grave] stones in France, remember the boys who went down at sea in WWII, look at the many Irish doctors, lawyers, ironworkers, teamsters, firemen, policemen, presidents, politicians and every other profession, and think of the proud working men and women who came from poverty and illiteracy and helped form the spine of this country. Ask yourself, what beauty that place must have, that was “the birthplace of white trash.”

This fellow Tosh is a “real comedian.”

Ignore him.

Edward T. Cain Columbus, Ohio

WILLIAMS WENT TO MOTHER OF GOD

Jason Miller As a Notre Dame alum I was delighted to hear that Jason Miller was a “big fan of Notre Dame football;” however, in his piece on Miller (Aug./Sept.) Robert Curran failed to mention that for Notre Dame fans, Jason’s most memorable film role was when he played Ara Parseghian in Rudy.

IGNORE DANIEL TOSH’S COMMENTS

In your article about Brian Williams entitled “We Need Better Catholics,” you record the name of his high school as Modern Day High School in Middletown, New Jersey. Middletown is in Monmouth County. I have resided in that county for 25 years, and there is no such school.

Brian Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School (Latin for Mother of God).

Pictured: Jason Miller, himself a superb athlete, played coach Ara Parseghian in Rudy.

Kathleen Flanagan Freehold, New Jersey

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readers forum Ted McGraw playing Ma McNulty’s accordion.

THE WONDERFUL MCNULTY FAMILY

It was wonderful to see the article on the McNulty Family and mention of the archive materials at New York University. They were fantastic entertainers and so much a part of the Irish American scene. A more extensive article on the McNultys, authored by me, will be in the next issue (November) of the Journal of the Society of American Music. In this photo I’m playing Ma McNulty’s refurbished 1930 Baldoni accordion which I have on loan from the family.

Ted McGraw Host/Producer, Irish Party House radio show and N. American archivist for Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.

Rochester, New York

THE IRISH HUNGER MEMORIAL IN MAINE I just reread the June/July issue of Irish America and once again found it to be very informative and interesting, especially all the material on the Great Hunger.

Portland, Maine has its own memorial to An Gorta Mór. The Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 1, Daniel O’Connell O’Donoghue, raised money to erect a stone on the Catholic Ground of Western Cemetery to honor and remember the twelve hundred Irish Catholics interred there. Most of those buried were Famine immigrants and the majority were children. There had only been about 45 gravestones to mark this area previously. The monument (pictured left) was dedicated and blessed by several local priests, along with a contingent of the AOH and the Knights of Columbus, with over a hundred onlookers, on August 15, 1999. Each year, around that date, the AOH has a Mass said here, with a local priest, always Irish American, as the celebrant. Many of those buried here were Civil War veterans and many more were killed while building and working on the railroads in Maine and New Hampshire.

The local AOH is named after local U.S. civil engineer clerk and Fenian leader Daniel O’Connell O’Donoghue, reputed to be a descendent of the Daniel O’Connell.

Matthew Jude Barker Portland, Maine

Write to us Send a fax (212-244-3344), e-mail (irishamag@aol.com) or mail (Letters, Irish America Magazine, 875 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001). Letters should include the writer’s full name and address and phone number and may be edited for clarity and space.

10 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

ST. PAT’S PARADE SHOULD BE INCLUSIVE With the recent passage of civil unions, Ireland has far surpassed New York in its commitment to equality.

Notably, Irish legislators overwhelmingly passed the measure, another reflection of how far Ireland has come.

President McAleese represents a new Ireland where challenging the injustices of the past is the norm. Given her longtime support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, her decision not to serve as Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan should not be surprising (her staff announced a scheduling conflict).

LGBT groups here and in Ireland have voiced their concerns to President McAleese that [the Manhattan] parade does not reflect Ireland’s long road to becoming a more inclusive society.

Regardless of her motive, President McAleese, in her decision not to attend, honored the 1916 Proclamation’s promise of “cherishing all children of the nation equally.”

In fighting for the decriminalization of homosexuality and the legal recognition of LGBT families, President McAleese has been at the forefront of expanding the rights of all Irish. Irish Americans have similarly made great strides in all areas of American life.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has made no secret of both her fight for LGBT rights and her equally strong ties to her Irish heritage.

As a vibrant city built by immigrants, New York has a long history of welcoming groups from all around the world. Two notable examples of public cultural displays that include openly LGBT participants are the India Day Parade and the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration. For inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parades, one has only to look to cities and towns in Ireland, including Dublin, and in the United States, including Chicago and Queens.

As the openly gay, Irish-American Chair of the Immigration Committee of the New York City Council, I dream of the day when all Irish American New Yorkers, including LGBT, can march down 5th Avenue.

Daniel Dromm New York City Council Member, 25th District Chair, Immigration Committee New York

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PEOPLE

| HERITAGE | EVENTS | ARTS | ENTERTAINMENT

Irish Eye on Hollywood

By Tom Deignan The Fighter – starring Mark Wahlberg as legendary boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward – had a long journey to the big screen. In fact, the film’s history is similar to Ward’s own troubled journey to the center of the boxing world.

In late December, the film finally hit theaters nationwide and is already generating plenty of Oscar buzz, drawing comparisons to box office champions such as Rocky and Raging Bull.

In The Fighter, Wahlberg portrays Ward as a boxer loaded with nearly as much trouble as talent. Ward’s main problem is his half-brother Dick, played by a gaunt, intense Christian Bale. As Ward rises from the sweaty gyms in his Irish-American neighborhood to become a contender for the welterweight championship, the drug-addicted Dickie becomes more of a problem for Ward. Not that he needs any more trouble. As the film makes clear, Ward’s entire family – especially his mother (Oscar nominee Melissa Leo) – seems bent on making it impossible for him to achieve his dreams. The only thing preventing Ward from (if you will) throwing in the towel is his own determination, as well as the love of a supportive girlfriend (played by another Oscar nominee, Amy Adams).

Wahlberg himself showed tons of grit and determination in making sure The Fighter was finally completed.

For years, the film languished. Wahlberg, however, felt a personal connection to Ward’s rags-to-riches story, as Wahlberg himself rose from troubled humble roots in the Irish enclave of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Once director David O. Russell (Three Kings) came on board, the film came together and should be a contender when the Academy Award season rolls around.

Also in December, the latest adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels – the classic book by Irish writer Jonathan Swift – hits theaters. This time around, Jack Black plays the title character in this famous fantasy tale. Black plays a New York newspaper writer who scams his way into a travel assignment that sends him to the land of the tiny Lilliputians. They put the egotistical Gulliver in his place and force him to see the world differently. Expect lots of slapstick and laughs as you learn your life lessons from this durable fable, which was Jack Black tied down by the Lilliputians.

Wahlberg in the ring as boxer Mickey Ward in The Fighter.

most recently filmed with Ted Danson in the starring role.

Another famous book soon to be brought to the big screen is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, whose large cast includes Irish actors James Nesbitt and Aidan Turner.

“James’s charm, warmth and wit are legendary as is his range as an actor in both comedic and dramatic roles. We feel very lucky to be able to welcome him as one of our cast,” said Hobbit director Peter Jackson, best known for bringing the three Lord of the Rings films to the big screen.

Nesbitt has appeared in films such as Bloody Sunday, Millions, Lucky Break and Waking Ned Devine, while Turner is best known for UK television work. The Hobbit is not expected in theaters until 2012.

Michael Fassbender (raised in Kerry by an Irish mother and German father) is slated to appear in yet another literary adaptation: Jane Eyre. Fassbender, who portrayed Irish icon Bobby Sands in Hunger and also appeared in Inglorious Basterds, will play Rochester alongside Mia Wasikowska in the latest version of the Charlotte Bronte book to make it to the big screen. Bronte, incidentally, shares an important link with Fassbender: Though their names don’t seem to reveal it, both are Irish. Charlotte’s father Patrick was born in County Down.

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A final classic book – which has Check out The Town on DVD if you missed it. proven notoriously difficult to adapt Irish American John Slattery, meanwhile, is rumored to be up for the role of J. Jonah Jameson, the for the big screen – to look for in thenasty newspaper editor, in the latest installment in the aters next year is The Great Gatsby by Spider Man franchise. Slattery, who plays the devilishF. Scott Fitzgerald. The IrishAmerican author’s best known work Michael Fassbender will star ly playful Roger Sterling on Mad Men, recently said his with Mia Wasikowska in a new was made into a star-studded film in adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Irish upbringing was not exactly helpful.

1974 with Robert Redford and Mia “I remember watching Masterpiece Theatre and Farrow. Despite its impressive cast (and a script by Francis Derek Jacobi. Just to see the power of that made me think, Ford Coppola) the film was panned. Nevertheless, acclaimed that’s what I want to do. And I just wanted to get the hell out director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) will try to succeed of where I was, the suburbs of Boston. where others have failed. Look for Gatsby to begin shooting “There was no outlet. There was no acting. I came from an in 2011.

Irish Catholic, sports-minded scene. And I was obsessed with movies and I would stay up all night watching movies. But Liam Neeson remains very busy, with numerous films there was no outlet.” slated for release in the coming year. Neeson’s most notoriFinally, Mad Men’s Jared Harris will be seen in the sequel to last year’s blockbuster Sherlock Holmes, starring ous role will surely be his cameo in the upcoming comedy Robert Downey Jr. Harris is the son of legendary Irish The Hangover 2. Neeson agreed to replace the filmmakers’ hellraiser Richard Harris. first choice for the cameo: Mel Gibson. Gibson, of course, was the subject of much tabloid attention when his rants Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan are teaming up for the against women and minorities were made public as part of the drama The Way Back, scheduled for a late January nationwide Irish-American actor’s drawn-out spat with his wife. The cast of The Hangover 2 more or less refused to participate in the release. The film, also starring Ed Harris and Jim Sturgess, movie if Gibson appeared. is about a band of World War II-era prisoners who are fleeing So, Neeson was called in to perform the cameo instead. from a Russian jail. Though you’re not likely to get many Neeson, meanwhile, has a starring role in the upcoming laughs from The Way Back, it is also being talked up as a movie thriller Unknown. Also starring Irish-American actor Aidan that could get its fair share of Academy Award consideration.

Quinn, January Jones (Mad Men) and Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds), Unknown revolves around a doctor After earning lots of praise on the festival circuit, White Irish Drinkers has been picked up by a distribution company and should be in select theaters in the spring. The gritty Brooklyn-set movie is the creation of John Gray, the force behind the mega-TV hit The Ghost Whisperer. Gray poured a lot of the money he made on TV into this little independent film about confused working class Irish kids, which stars Stephen Lang, Karen Allen and Peter Riegert.

Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger in Unknown.

(Neeson) who is left in a coma after an accident.

When he miraculously emerges from the coma, it appears that another person (Quinn) has stolen his identity, and may very well be looking to put Neeson’s character in the grave once and for all.

Look for Unknown to hit theaters in early 2011.

Speaking of Mad Men, other members of that acclaimed TV show’s cast are popping up in Irishthemed projects. First, of course, there was Jon Hamm in the thriller The Town, which featured Jeremy Renner and Ben Affleck as Boston Irish bank robbers.

Another indy that generated lots of buzz on the festival circuit, Killing Bono, should also be in U.S. theaters soon. The film, directed by Nick Hamm, is based on journalist Neil McCormick’s autobiography, which is about the members of a Dublin band in the late ’70s who attend the same school as a couple of other musically-inclined kids named Paul Hewson and David Evans. They would become better known as Bono and the Edge of U2 fame.

Finally, on the TV front, Molly Shannon has been tapped for the lead role in an HBO show about a former Catholic nun who is returning to the dating scene.

“It’s James Joyce meets Judd Apatow – a female 40Year-Old Virgin with a huge dollop of Catholic weirdness thrown in,” is how one show producer put it.

The Irish Catholic Shannon, of course, was famous for playing Mary Katherine Gallagher on Saturday Night IA Live.

DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 13

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Dennehy Honored by IAW&A

O

ctober 18 marked the ing to us.’ But I must add that Irish American Writers we don’t necessarily perceive and Artists’ second the author’s intention without annual Eugene O’Neill translation by a great actor, Lifetime Achievement who also translates what’s not Award Cocktail Reception, honoring there, who reads between the actor Brian Dennehy. Dennehy won a author’s lines, who intuits, Best Actor Tony in 2003 for his perwho invents, who imposes his formance in O’Neill’s Long Day’s own personality, his own wisJourney Into Night, and has been nomdom, his own wit wherever he inated for six Emmys for performancsees the need. Brian said this es in other O’Neill plays. himself: ‘Great actors of Author Mary Pat Kelly served as Hamlet – they all play it differMaster of Ceremonies at the reception, ently, and they play it differand IAW&A co-founder Peter Quinn ently every night.’ I believe delivered opening remarks. T.J. that the talent for doing this English, Conor McCourt and Joe comes from the actor’s authenGrifasi also shared congratulations. tic sense of himself – knowing Of his special relationship with he’s like nobody else. In some O’Neill’s work, Dennehy has said: “I deep center of his being, he think that my being Irish American, Author William Kennedy presents actor Brian Dennehy with knows exactly who he is and the grandson of a factory worker in the 2010 Eugene O’Neill Award. who else he might be – which Bridgeport, Connecticut, and my being is where the greatness comes raised in a real Irish-American climate in Clarence Darrow, Teamster boss Jackie in. … We know that something excellent is Brooklyn and Long Island and New York Presser, basketball coach Bobby Knight happening here – a profundity of talent on in the 1940s and ’50s goes a long way and serial killer John Wayne Gacy, to display, or an unusual depth of understandtowards explaining it.” name a few. One of the evening’s highing and expression of human behavior.

Dennehy won a Tony Award and lights was a video montage of Dennehy’s Without any doubt there’s a singular presGolden Globe in 1999 for his performance many roles onstage and onscreen. ence up there on stage, and we relish it, we as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s classic Last year’s honoree, William Kennedy, marvel at it, we want to applaud. And we Death of a Salesman. He has appeared in presented Dennehy with the award. He do applaud. And the actor we’re reveling over one hundred feature films, dozens of remarked, “I saw Brian interviewed on in, relishing, applauding – tonight it’s dramatic TV series and many made-forCharlie Rose, talking about his role in that big fellow over there – Brian TV movies. His varied roles have included Death of a Salesman, and he said, ‘When Dennehy.” numerous true-life characters, including theater is done right it is the author speak– Kara Rota

A Fellowship for New Americans iven the climate of the United States immigration policies and debates, Paul and Daisy Soros’ Fellowships for New Americans provide a much needed leg-up to creative and ambitious young immigrants and the sons and daughters of immigrants.

Helen P. O’Reilly (right) was among 2010’s chosen 30 to receive a Soros

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fellowship. The daughter of immigrants from counties Clare and Kerry, Helen grew up in the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, New York. From an early age, she exhibited compassion and community awareness, working at Advocates for Children of New York, an organization aimed at providing children with educational services and

solutions to rising juvenile detention rates. Helen went on to graduate from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Foreign Service, magna cum laude and is currently in her second year at Yale Law School.

The Soros Fellowship is fast becoming as recognizable as Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships. Its focus on new Americans honors the contributions that immigrants have made in the shaping of this country.

– Tara Dougherty

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’Tis a New Challenge for Cathie

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16 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

“

“I think my Irish heritage is very important, and I think it gives me a feeling of roots and history and hopefully all the good traits that come with that – a sense of humor and not taking things too seriously and realizing that life is short: enjoy it.”

“Having a woman in the job has given a lot of women in this company, and in the industry, a great shot in the arm. I want guys to think that they are going to do equally well in the company but to realize that they are competing on equal levels with a lot of terrific women too.”

Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life), which is in its eighth printing and has been translated for publication in twelve countries.

In her new position, Black will become the first woman chancellor of the city’s public schools. Though her prior experience does not lie in the field of education, Bloomberg is confident that Black’s four decades of experience in media and business have provided her with the skills she needs to be an effective leader.

With all her accomplishments, it’s no surprise that Black has frequently appeared on our Business 100 list. In 2000, our editor and co-founder Patricia Harty conducted an interview with Black and it is interesting to note, especially given her new role, that back then Frank McCourt, the beloved educator and writer, was on her mind. – SL IA

With all this good advice to offer, would [Black] ever consider writing a book? “I probably will someday,” she muses. “I just had a note from a literary agency and I thought, you know, maybe I should start thinking about that again.” In the meantime, there’s all that reading she has to do. “If I can get through all of our magazines, I want to read Frank McCourt’s new book, ‘Tis, she states. “He gave a lecture and he was just brilliant.”

It’s a word that describes her equally well.

“

hanges are in store for both Cathie Black and the New York City public school system. On Tuesday, November 9th, Mayor Michael Bloomberg formally announced his decision to name Black, who is currently the chair of Hearst Magazines, the next New York City schools chancellor, a role held by Joel Klein since 2002. Pending approval from the State Education Commisioner at the time of writing, Black will lead a school system of 1.1 million children, 80,000 teachers, and the administrators who support them.

One of our Business 100 honorees in this issue (see pg. 42 for her profile), Black was raised by her Irish Catholic family on Chicago’s South Side.

After graduating from Trinity Washington University in 1966, she began her career by working with several magazines such as Holiday and Ms. and went on to blaze a trail of success through what was then a male-dominated industry. Black became the first female publisher of a weekly consumer magazine when she joined New York in 1979. After turning USA Today into the national newspaper as we know it and serving as the vice president of marketing for Gannet, she became the first woman president of the Newspaper Corporation of America. Black then joined Hearst in 1996 as the first female to head Hearst Magazines. First as president and now as chairman, she oversees fourteen of the magazine industry’s most popular titles, including Harper’s Bazaar; Cosmopolitan; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Town and Country. Black is also in charge of the 200 international editions of those magazines, which run in over 100 countries. She has also authored a best-selling book, Basic

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What a Difference a Year Makes L to R: Declan, Kevin, Kerry, Liam, Cormac, Des and Ciara Lyons with Finnegan, their dog.

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little over a year ago a cozy home in Irvington, New York was abuzz with excitement as identical triplets Cormac, Kevin and Declan Lyons had just celebrated their first birthday and were ready to start taking their first steps.

Fast forward a year later and the same cozy home, adorned with Halloween decorations, was still abuzz with excitement as Cormac, Kevin and Declan ran from room to room, sometimes chasing the family dog, Finnegan, and other times just running because they now can.

The triplets are the adorable sons of Kerry and Desmond Lyons, son of the late Dr. Michael Lyons of Co. Cork who was honored by Irish America magazine in 2004 for his work in discovering the links between smoking and lung cancer.

The Lyonses planned on having one more to complete their family. They were already proud parents to Liam, now 5, and Ciara, now 3. So when Kerry, who had not undergone any fertil18 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

ity treatment, discovered they were getting three for the price of one, she was elated and also terrified.

The triplets arrived on October 10, 2008, after 36 weeks of pregnancy, via a Caesarean section. Kevin was born weighing six pounds, Declan was five pounds, eight ounces and Cormac was five pounds, three ounces.

From last year to this the boys have found their voices, personalities and independence.

“It can be fun sometimes when they all run in different directions,” Kerry tells Irish America.

The Lyonses are still color coding to identify the boys.

Cormac always wears green, Declan blue and Kevin is always donned in red. It’s the only way to tell them apart.

The Lyons’ secret to raising five children under six: patience, a firm routine and most of all an abundance of love.

“We survived another year and it was wonderful,” said Desmond.

– April Drew

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Honors for Feerick T

he Flax Trust honored John few pounds and only one or two posD. Feerick, the former dean sessions. Their lives in America were of Fordham Law School, at a spent raising five of us. I was the oldlunch at the 21 Club in New York est of their children.

City on October 13. The distin“When my mother was a teenager guished law professor was primarily she picked berries in the hills of responsible for the composition of Ireland so she could make some the 25th Amendment to the United money to pay for lessons to learn States Constitution, which specifies how to dance. how the President can remove him“We saw her dance growing up in self from office temporarily (Ronald the Bronx as our father played the Reagan made history when he transaccordion. None of us was ever to be ferred power to his vice president their equal, but we took from them a George H.W. Bush while he underdance and music for life – our went a colonoscopy that required Catholic faith, our American citizenanesthesia). On the 13th, Feerick was ship, our Irish heritage, and their honored for his efforts to end the viomoral compass and example.” lence in Northern Ireland.

Feerick went on to thank Sister The father of six children and Sister Mary Turley of Flax Trust presents Dean Feerick Mary Turley and Father Myles grandfather of eight, Feerick spoke with a sculpture fashioned out of Irish bog oak to Kavanagh for their inspiring leadermovingly of his immigrant parents resemble the Giant’s Causeway. Flax Trust promotes rec- ship of the Flax Trust, and Bill Flynn onciliation and enrichment through education, training, and his wife Emalie, whom he social development and respect for cultural difference. and Tom Moran of Mutual of thanked “for her companionship America “for your friendship and all over the last almost 50 years of my life.

Boyle and John Feerick, in whose name he the others who are here today united in the She has been and is my Fair Lady.” accepted the award: “They came to cause of Irish Reconciliation through – PH Feerick said of his parents, Mary Jane America from County Mayo, each with a Economic Development.”

Irish America in Afghanistan t. Col. Bennett W.Walsh, who was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, is pictured here on his last day in Afghanistan, September 25, with a copy of Irish America magazine, at Camp Leatherneck in the Helmand Province. He is standing beside the 1st Marine Division Memorial, in honor of those Marines killed since March 20, 2010. Col.Walsh was the Current Operations Officer for the First Marine Division in Afghanistan. He is now stationed in Okinawa where he is the training officer for the Third Marine Division.As a major in 2006, Lt. Col.Walsh was diagnosed with skin cancer three months into his second tour in Iraq. He put off returning home for surgery in order to lead the 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment into combat operations. Later, after successful surgery, Col.Walsh returned to duty. He served three tours in Iraq and was under fire in Somalia commanding the same platoon that his father commanded in Vietnam: the 2nd Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. A graduate of Providence College with a masters degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts Universary,The Fletcher school, Col.Walsh is one of 7 children of Kateri and Dan Walsh. He is married to Shannon Steele and is the father of 4 (Molly, Bennett, Jr, Siobhan and Norah). Col. Walsh’s mother Kateri told Irish America that she is proud of her son but even more proud of her daughter-in-law. “Without Shannon's support on the homefront, Ben would not have had successful deployments.“ – KR

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Design from Donegal W

hen Joan Ghali traveled to Florida in 2003, she paid a visit to the Design Center of the Americas in Fort Lauderdale. There, the Donegal native realized something that stayed with her even after she returned to Ireland. “I noticed that there was a huge gap in the market for authentic Irish products,” she recalled in a recent conversation. She saw high-end traditional designs from Japan, the Netherlands, and the Americas, but noted that Ireland was somewhat lacking in representation.

The following year, Joan and her husband Lido resolved to try to fill that gap. Together, they formed the design company JoanLido, which creates luxury items out of authentic Irish materials. The fledgling company features both household wares and clothing: Joan and Lido collaborate on everything from pillows, curtains and throws to bespoke shirts, dresses, and a wedding line – all crafted from local fabrics. Joan emphasizes that they “work with skilled Irish craftspeople, mainly from Co. Donegal, especially women who specialize in the beautiful Irish Aran traditional knitting patterns such as Kells and Donegal, and Iona/Colmcille from Cranaknits Irish Knitting Company. We also work with specialist seamstresses, embroiderers and lace makers who specialize in Celtic patterns, with traditional skills and crafts handed down through the generations of Irish families.”

A fine example of JoanLido’s work is the Celtic dress they designed as the national costume for Laura Patterson, Miss Ireland 2010, pictured at left. Patterson wore the green princess dress with hand-stitched Celtic designs to the Miss World pageant in South Africa. Since then, it has been displayed at various venues throughout Ireland.

The team’s website is still under construction but further information will be available IA at www.joanlido.com.

–Sheila Langan

Clark Named Grand Marshal

The Grand Marshal for the 250th St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City will be best-selling mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark.

Higgins Clark will be 83 years old on St. Patrick’s Day 2011. Her books have sold more than 80 million copies in the U.S. The daughter of Irish immigrants, Higgins Clark considers her Irish heritage an important influence on her writing. Her father owned a pub in the 20 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Bronx, and as a young girl Mary listend to the yarns told by the Irish patrons. “The Irish are by nature storytellers,” she says.

Mary always wrote, but the untimely death of her husband,Warren, made selling a necessity in order to support her five young children. Her daughter Carol Higgins Clark is also a mystery writer.

Mary now resides in New Jersey with her third husband, John Conheeney.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO

DON KEOUGH ON HIS INDUCTION AS THE INAUGURAL RECIPIENT OF THE IRISH AMERICA HALL OF FAME AWARD. YOUR RECOGNITION IS RICHLY DESERVED, AND YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO IRISH SOCIETY IS UNPARALLELED. DECLAN KELLY U.S. ECONOMIC ENVOY TO NORTHERN IRELAND

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An Irish Tune-Up for Cuba Two images from Mr. Creedon’s show on display at the Irish Arts Center in New York.

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22 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

PHOTOS: DAVID CREEDON

ince 2006, many visitors traveling from Ireland to Cuba have carried slightly heavier than usual suitcases. In addition to their clothes, toiletries and other necessities, they have been carrying piano parts and tools for tuning and repair. They have transported a total of more than 500 pounds, to date, all of which has been given to Havana’s National Workshop for Musical Instrument Repair.

This courier program is run by Una Corda, an Irish non-profit organization, and is recognized by the Centre of Coordination for International Collaboration of the Cuban Ministry of Culture. Una Corda, which takes its name from the piano’s soft pedal, is dedicated to reinvigorating the National Workshop – to giving Cubans the tools and skills to repair the many pianos that have started to deteriorate due to Cuba’s isolation and its hot, humid climate. In addition to the courier program, the organization sends Irish musicians and piano tuners over to Cuba with the aim of not only helping to repair pianos in the workshop, but also of teaching people how to make repairs themselves and pass on the knowledge.

When David Creedon went to Cuba in 2008, he carried his own luggage, some glue and sandpaper from Una Corda, and an additional item: a Canon 1ds Mark III camera. The Cork photographer has exhibited internationally and received much critical acclaim for his last show, Ghosts of the Faithful Departed: haunting, evocative shots of the interiors of abandoned houses in Ireland. It first exhibited in Chicago, with the help of Sarah McCarthy, a Chicago woman who was fascinated by Creedon’s work, and was one of the largest touring shows in Europe in 2008.

Creedon first heard about Una Corda when he caught the tail end of a 3:00 a.m. radio program in his car. At the time, he was working on a series of images of 57 Steinway pianos purchased by the Irish government, so the snippet about the project in Cuba naturally piqued

Creedon’s interest. He then got in touch with Ciaran Ryan, the program’s founder, who encouraged him to make the trip to Cuba. After a long wait for his visa, the photographer was on his way. He fondly recalls his first trip to National Workshop for Musical Instrument Repair, located off the beaten track in Santo Tomás, between Árbol Seco and Subirana in Centro Havana: “Not many tourists venture to this part of town and when I arrived I felt unsure about the location as there seemed to be nobody about, but my driver was insistent that this was the right place. I was uncertain if I should stay in the car or get out when a man peeked out of a doorway and quickly disappeared only to return thirty seconds later waving the Irish Tricolor.”

Creedon’s latest exhibition, Una Corda

– the Soft Pedal, features photographs he took during his ten days at the National Workshop. His arresting, large-scale images are on display at the Irish Arts Center in New York until January 9th. The thirteen photographs take viewers inside the workshop for an intimate look at the pianos in the midst of or in need of repair.

In one, dusty piano keys sit on a table in a crooked line. In another, an old, ornate piano leg is just visible in a dark corner, surrounded by tools and worktables. In other shots, Creedon moves closer to the pianos, focusing on almost unrecognizable components of the instrument that make for stunning abstract images. By featuring the pianos both wholly and in pieces, his photographs almost mimic the disassembling and reassembling that takes place in the workshop.

Surprisingly, Creedon hadn’t initially considered exhibiting the photographs he took in Cuba. But when Joanna Groarke, the program and production manager at the Arts Center, saw the images, she encouraged Creedon to consider collaborating on a show. Anyone who sees Una Corda will be very glad she did.

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Call 212-757-3318 ext. 203 for an appointment. irishartscenter.org. IA – Sheila Langan

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A Night of Southern Stars T he 5th Annual Stars of the South dinner took place on Saturday, Oct. 16th in Atlanta’s Commerce Club. The evening was co-hosted by Irish America and the Keenan Kids Foundation.

Those honored came from a wide cross section of the community and included leading lights in the arts and education, the church and corporate world. Tributes to the ancestors abounded and stories were told of mothers and fathers, and a grandmother who looked across the Kentucky hills and admonished her grandson to remember, “You are Irish and Scots. That’s who your people are and that’s your legacy,” Betty Scott Noble, whose grandfather founded Agnes Smith College in 1889 to honor the vision of his mother, who emigrated from Ireland in 1816 at the age of 17, was particularly eloquent. She described herself an “ornery” Scots Irish woman and proud of the label. Proud, too, of her father’s side of the family, the Calhouns and Pickens, and the contributions that Scots Irish Presbyterians made in the areas of education and politics – in the very founding of America.

There was even mention of an ancestor who paid a guinea for a rat during the siege of Derry.

Steve Cahillhane paid tribute to his Donegal mother, who was present, telling how at 18 she arrived in New York and met the Irish-American man she would marry. They put four children through college on a fireman’s pay, and then she and her husband went to college themselves and graduated.

Dr. Stephen Cross talked about how his Irish heritage proved to be the incentive for founding Georgia Tech’s Irish campus, and recalled his grandmother’s words “Don’t give up until it’s over…and the weight on your shoulders will make you strong.”

Joe Hassett (whose book on Yeats is reviewed in this issue) talked about the good people of Buffalo who banded together to send him to Ireland on a work study program, and the richness of exploring his heritage through literature.

24 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Above: Katherine Irwin Thomas and John Maschinot.

Far left: Dr. J. Phillips Noble and his daughter Betty Scott Noble.

Left: Patrick McGahan and Patricia Harty..

Archbishop Donoghue, who opened five schools in the Atlanta area when Catholic schools across the nation were closing, talked about being Irish and American and the customs and songs and the stubbornness and know-how of Irish Catholics.

Patrick Berrigan brought greetings from the New Orleans A.O.H., the second-oldest chapter in America, and talked about how Irish New Orleans was – right up to 1980 when they ruled city politics. “We are an Irish town – look at our history,” he said. He told how the cotton ships, rather than return empty from Britain, returned with Irish – cheap labor to build the canals. Berrigan talked too about what it meant to hand down the [Catholic] faith.

His family has its very own saint, Luke

Berrigan who was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1655 because he was a Catholic priest. He talked with amusement about his mother’s relationship with Our Lady, which included bribery. “She said three Hail Mary’s every night but just the first part, saying, ‘If I’m still alive in the morning, Mary, I’ll finish.’”

Pat McGahan talked about his ancestors on both sides who had come over in the 1800s, including his great-greatgrandmother on his mother’s side, Abby Shea, who immigrated in 1848 and was a nurse in the Civil War. The night was rounded out with uilleann pipe player John Maschinot. who grew up in a small Kentucky town on the Ohio River and whose mother’s ancestors came from Galway. He said his discovery of the pipes rescued him as a troubled teenager. One of the tunes he played was “Man of Constant Sorrow,” a haunting old American tune that stirred up the blood, and in John’s own words, made you realize “you had a soul.” – PH IA

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The Wall Street 50 Irish America’s 13th annual Wall Street 50 celebration of the best and the brightest Irish Americans in the financial industry was held September 20 at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan, co-hosted by Invest Northern Ireland with the support of Titanic Quarter.

Photos by Nuala Purcell.

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13 1) Bob McCann, CEO of UBS Wealth Management. Leadership award provided by Waterford Crystal. 2) Mike Smith, Chief Executive of Titanic Quarter; Patricia Harty; Niall O’Dowd; Bob McCann; Gary Hanley, SVP North America of Invest NI, and Declan Kelly. 3) Tony Condon of UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School, Anna Lynch Ruane and honoree Brian Ruane of BNY Mellon. 4) Carl Shanahan of the Irish American Museum of Washington DC. 5) Wall Street 50 honorees. 6) Dr. Bryan Gregory and Speaker Christine Quinn. 7) 2010 Irish American of the Year John Fitzpatrick. 8) Honoree John Duffy and Patricia Harty. 9) Andrea Haughian of Invest NI and honoree Shaun Kelly of KPMG. 10) Turlough McConnell, Irish America’s Director of Special Projects. 11) Mike Smith and Michael Graham of Titanic Quarter. 12) Honoree Michael Farrell and Joe Madden of Metlife. 13) Angus Miller, honoree Michael Brewster of Credit Suisse, Paul Keary of FTI Consulting. 14) Consul General Noel Kilkenny, Hanora Kilkenny. 15) Bob McCann and Ed Kenney of Mutual of America.

26 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

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Nobel Peace Prize Winner Deported n 1976, in the heat of the troubles, three children’s lives were taken when an IRA man who was shot swerved his car into them.

Mairead Corrigan Maguire, the aunt of those children, founded Women for Peace, later to become Peace People, after the tragic incident. She received numerous prizes and honors for her efforts, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

Her focus recently has been on Israel to stop its “apartheid policy and the siege on Gaza.”

Maguire has made numerous statements in support of both Israeli and Palestinian people and has adamantly worked to end violence in the region. Maguire was arrested in Tel Aviv and deported in early October. In June, Maguire was among others on a ship led by the “Free Gaza” group that attempted to break the blockade into the Gaza Strip. This effort was thwarted. In 2009, Maguire had a similar incident on another aid ship that was also boarded by Israeli forces.

When Maguire attempted to enter Gaza in October, she was refused entry because of her previous activism, and will not be allowed entry for ten years. Maguire maintains that she was unaware the deportation order existed until her arrival. – TD

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BAILOUT RUMORS PERSIST On November 15, the European Commission confirmed that Ireland made no request for an EU bailout. A spokesperson said that Ireland’s sovereign debt is financed until summer 2011. Recent reports, however, suggest that Ireland has faced pressure to accept the bailout. Discussions have centered around tapping into an existing bailout fund created for Greece earlier this year. However, when Brian Lenihan, Irish finance minister, was asked in Brussels if assistance for Ireland was now inevitable, he said it was not.

See “Ireland on the Brink” by John Spain on page 112 in this issue. – TD

DOCTOR VISITS DECREASE A Pfizer poll of 1,001 adults in Ireland has shown a 4% decrease in the number of people visiting their general practitioners for checkups between 2008 and this year, largely due to a decrease in insurance coverage caused by the recession. A 7% drop was shown in people visiting a hospital when they felt sick, and 3% less went in for treatments and operations. 34% of skilled manual laborers or tradesmen, making up nearly 25% of the population, do not have health insurance. 64% of “middle class” citizens were shown to have private health insurance. – KR

Oscar’s Immortal Visage anny Osbourne’s iconic Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square, Dublin has been without a head for a few weeks – with good reason. The sculpture’s original porcelain head, which is thirteen years old, has been deteriorating due to the wear of time and the elements. In November, the sculptor returned to the rock in Merrion Square where Wilde casually sits to fit him with a new head in jadeite jade. The material was chosen for its great durability and symbolic ties to immortality. – SL

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FOR ALL YOUR IRISH 28 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

NEWS ALL THE TIME VISIT

www.IrishCentral.com

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A model of the recently opened Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport.

THE RIGHT TO WORK PROTEST The Right to Work campaign gathered approximately 30 demonstrators at the home of former Anglo Irish Bank chief Sean FitzPatrick in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, calling for his arrest. James O’Toole, the campaign’s chairman, said, “I have a message to the people in power – we need to put Sean FitzPatrick in jail.”

– KR

CONCERN FOR HAITI

Those traveling to and from Ireland via Dublin Airport can now look forward to experiencing the recently opened Terminal 2. The terminal, which has been in the works since 2006, will house arrivals and departures for Aer Lingus, US Airways and Continental, and more airlines in the future. The modern, curvilinear structure designed by Pascall + Watson cost 1.2 billion euros and boasts a streamlined check-in process, a vast retail space that will employ 400, and a special U.S. Homeland Security-approved area for Aer Lingus passengers to go through customs and immigration in Dublin, providing a faster arrivals process in the U.S. – SL

In spite of Ireland’s economic troubles, the government is planning to send 500,000 euros in humanitarian aid to Haiti. Still suffering the after-effects of the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti is now struggling with a cholera outbreak and is in need of significant help. The money will go towards tents and tarps provided by Concern Worldwide and the International Organization of Migration, and towards clean water and sanitation and hygiene products via Plan Ireland and Goal.

– SL

2011: A Year of Culture tarting in January, 2011 will be a year of Irish culture in America. Culture Ireland is forming partnerships with various institutions, festivals and venues in hopes of displaying Ireland’s artistic accomplishments and creativity, and paying tribute to Ireland’s strong cultural relationship with America. Mary Hanafin, Minister of Arts, Sport and Tourism, explained that “the program, scheduled to run from January to December 2011, will comprise a range of events across artistic disciplines in key cities (for example New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Philadelphia) and in other locations where there are strong presenting partners.” Look for a proliferation of of Irish events in these and other areas.

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Adams Runs for Dail erry Adams is seeking the Dail (Irish Parliament) party nomination, relinquishing his West Belfast seats in the Northern Assembly and at Westminster to run in the next general election. He said, “This is a significant initiative by the Sinn Féin leadership. It is a measure of our determination to pro-

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vide a real alternative to the consensus for cuts being pushed by the other parties… As leader of Sinn Féin, I want to be part of the necessary fight-back against bad economic policies in both parts of this island and for a fair, decent and united society for all the people of Ireland.”

– KR

DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 29

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Legal 100 Gala Night

CIE Tours Launches 2011 Program

One hundred Irish-American stars of the legal profession were honored at the Irish Voice’s Irish Legal 100 reception held onNovember 11 at the Washington, D.C. residence of the Irish Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Collins.

Consul General Noel Kilkenny, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbons, Mary Hanafin TD, President and CEO of CIE Brian Stack and EVP of Tourism Ireland Joe Byrne.

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TOP: Legal 100 honorees Brian Neary, Ellen Keane Rutt, Patricia O'Hara, and Dan McCarthy. ABOVE LEFT: Niall O’Dowd, Legal 100 honoree Patrick Sweeney and Ambassador Michael Collins. RIGHT: Honorees Mark Tuohey and Kathleen Lynch.

PHOTO BELOW: Owen Rodgers who coordinated the Famine Echoes event, Joe King, Dr. Ruan O’Donnell, Sinead McCoole, Jim Cullen, Dr. Christine Kinealy, Henry McNally and Gerard McAtasney.

Famine Echoes: Ireland and the USA

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major event on the Great Irish Famine took place in New York on October 23 and 24.

American, Irish and British scholars, journalists and writers gathered at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, State Street, to explore the impact of the catastrophe that drove millions of survivors across the Atlantic to virtually every part of the USA and Canada.

30 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

reland’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Mary Hanafin,T.D., launched CIE Tours International’s vacation program for 2011 at a reception for leaders of the travel industry and press on November 10 at the “21” Club in New York. Minister Hanafin spoke about the success of tourism to Ireland in spite of difficult economic times. Brian Stack, managing director of CIE Tours International, said the success of his company lies in the fact that “our guides focus on client enjoyment, so it’s like having a good friend in Ireland. A client pays one price and CIE takes care of all the details.” The 2011 program includes a total of 23 escorted coach tours, ranging from the 6-day “Taste of Ireland” which concentrates on Dublin, Blarney, Killarney, and Bunratty, to the 15day “Jewels of Ireland,” a comprehensive itinerary around the whole island. Fifteen escorted tours to Britain and eight escorted tours that combine Britain with Ireland are also available.The line-up also includes three luxury tours that provide personalized attention, gourmet meals, and accommodations at Ireland’s top deluxe hotels and castle and manor resorts. For information about the CIE Tours International vacation program for 2011 or to request brochures, contact CIE Tours at 800-CIETOUR or visit www.cietours.com.

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Quote Unquote

“I was there in the bad times. . . . I wasn’t sure this would ever happen. Maybe someday in the future. I guess the future is now.”

Mike Murphy, who has been with the San Francisco Giants since the team’s first season in the Bay area in 1958, first as a bat boy and from 1980 as the equipment manager. – New York Times

“The true ignominy of our current situation is not that our sovereignty has been taken away from us, it is that we ourselves have squandered it.

Let us not seek to assuage our sense of shame in the comforting illusion that powerful nations in Europe are conspiring to become our masters. We are, after all, no great prize for any would-be overlord now.

No rational European would willingly take on the task of cleaning up the mess we have made. It is the incompetence of the governments we ourselves elected that has so deeply compromised our capacity to make our own decisions.”

– Editorial in the Irish Times

“Having spent the last decade in a fog of intoxicating self-congratulation for our economic success, we now face the reality that it was illusory. Inept politicians, greedy bankers and property speculators have wrecked the certainties on which our recent notions of ourselves were founded.”

Joseph O’Connor writing in The Guardian

“Family’s from South Boston, we’re Irish. That’s correct, Irish.”

San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson.

He likes his Irish roots too, in fact he hiked around Ireland last summer with a backpack, minus his beard and no one recognized him. Said he had a ball. – IrishCentral.com

“Let’s be honest. The war against marijuana has failed.”

Joseph D. McNamara, a former San Jose police chief, says in a commercial for California’s Proposition 19 that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana. – New York 32 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

“It’s always been a dream of mine to run a marathon ... Knowing that my parents have a passion for running and specifically marathoning, I’ve always been aware of the pull and the draw of the event.”

Shalene Flanagan, who grew up in the Boston area, the daughter of marathoners, speaking after her marathon debut at the 2010 New York Marathon. She finished 2nd at 2:28:40 and became the first American woman since 1990 to place. – The Star Ledger

“We’ve got a lot of food. We’ve got the room all night. So God bless you. So let’s party!”

Christine O’Donnell, the Republican candidate for senator, from Delaware, in her concession speech.

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Notre Dame

AARON SUOZZI PHOTOS

Coach Brian Kelly talks to Niall O’Dowd about coaching, his plans for Notre Dame and his Irish heritage.

34 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

It

is a mid-October Sunday morning at Notre Dame, right after the home victory against Pittsburgh. It was a close-run thing and the sense of relief around the Notre Dame campus is palpable.

Nowhere is it more obvious than in Coach Brian Kelly’s headquarters at the Guglielmino complex.

It is easy to see what pressure a Notre Dame rookie coach is under just when you wander into the center. Framed under glass is the 1986 Waterford Crystal National Championship trophy. They built a statue to Lou Holtz near the football stadium for delivering that.

As against that, some of his successors

Photos: Aaron Suozzi and Michael & Susan Bennett

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were essentially run out of town for not delivering. This Notre Dame fan base is a tough, impatient crowd and it is easy to see why.

On the walls at the Guglielmino complex are Hall of Famers from Knute Rockne to Joe Montana; all around are artifacts of the most glorious era in college sport when Notre Dame were kings and champions.

Not any more, which is where Brian Kelly comes in. Hugely successful at Valley State, Central Michigan and

Cincinnati, he has been brought in to wake up the echoes and restore the glory days.

Like any restoration, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, yet Kelly seems remarkably unfazed by the pressure. As the new head coach he bears the dreams of millions across America for the glory days to be restored.

Yet on his wall in his spacious office there are no homages to the past. The main artifact to catch the eye is a painting, a striking modernist rendition of ten or twelve faceless workingmen ready to go to work.

This is how Kelly sees his new job, as a member of a team, where no individual

is more important than the other, where the blue-collar pail-and-bucket mentality rules and where progress is not measured in headline inches but in yards and inches for the next first down.

In the days following our interview, Notre Dame was rocked to its core when a student, Declan Sullivan, was killed filming football practice when the video tower he was on collapsed.

Kelly, who said that dealing with the death was especially painful because he had gotten to know the 20-year-old per-

Kelly knows what adversity is like. His wife Paqui has battled breast cancer and has undergone a double mastectomy. It is a battle she and he are committed to winning, not just for their three kids, but also for American women everywhere. They have established a foundation to raise millions for the cause. So Brian Kelly knows it is about far more than X’s and O’s and where the next spread formation comes from. But he’s also a college coach in the best or worst job in the nation. The will to win and desire are evident. He will toler-

Coach Brian Kelly has his game face on during this Notre Dame home game against Pittsburgh.

The Irish won the day 2317.

sonally, was among the many mourners who traveled from Notre Dame to the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove for the funeral.

Notre Dame’s vice president for student affairs, the Rev. Tom Doyle, delivered the homily. The service was closed to reporters but AP reported that Doyle asked attendees “to let go of the things that give you pain and ascend to a stream that will give you joy.” Sullivan was also remembered in the game against Tulsa, when both Notre Dame and Tulsa players wore helmet decals in the shape of a shamrock with the initials DS in the middle. Notre Dame also wore the decal against Utah.

AARON SUOZZI PHOTOS

ate nothing less.

Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Kelly was a linebacker at Assumption College, where he graduated with a degree in political science in 1983. His father Paul was a politician – a Boston alderman – and Kelly could have followed in his father’s footsteps, but football was his true passion and after a run at working in Democratic party politics, he was back at Assumption as a linebacker coach and defense coordinator.

In the following years, at Valley State (1991-2003), Central Michigan University (2004-06), and University of Cincinnati (2006-09), Kelly developed a

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reputation for building winning teams. We began our conversation by talking about the win over Pittsburgh the day before.

Despite the victory, Kelly is quick to say that the team is a work in progress.

Coach Kelly: We are in it for the long haul. We are in it to build it and sustain it for many years. So these are just short steps along the way. I knew when I got into this business – that when 18-to-21year-olds were going to decide whether I could pay my mortgage – I already knew I was crazy. So from there it makes it easier, as long as you start with that perspective. The big picture is that you’re developing a program, and when you’re building a successful business or organization, you don’t measure it by what happens at the end of the month, you measure it by where you’re moving to over the long term, and that’s really the perspective that I have.

death] was being put on. It was directed by a Father Kenzel and they liked that name. So my grandfather was [christened] Kenzel and my dad is Paul Kenzel and the last chance at keeping a Kenzel in the family was when my youngest boy was born; my dad bribed my wife, who wasn’t a big Kenzel fan, and said, listen, if you go with Kenzel and keep the name alive, you get the house on the Cape. So the name Kenzel is still alive.

Tell me about your dad.

Dad comes to all the games. He’s a bit of a celebrity. He’s on TV all the time.

in the State House of Boston and worked for a state senator. Gary Hart was running for president and the state senator that I worked for in Massachusetts endorsed Gary Hart. So he lent me to his campaign. After that campaign ended, I wanted to go back to the thing that I wanted to do all along, which was coach.

I probably wasn’t courageous enough to say it at the time [I graduated], which was “[I’m sorry] that you used all this money to send me to school and I want to be a football coach.” Didn’t seem like the right thing to do at the time. So I went into politics for a couple of years, I

Niall O’Dowd: An Irish coach and Notre Dame is a pretty good mix.What’s the heritage – how far back do you go?

My great-grandparents were from Ireland. My grandfather was a Boston cop for 35 years, and my first introduction to Irish culture was talking to him MICHAEL & SUSAN BENNETT about the where the term Paddy He’s a Notre Dame [fan] – it was all Wagon came from. We lived in Chelsea, Notre Dame [growing up].

Massachusetts, which was a naval pier He was a big influence. I think you are town where all the Navy guys would who you are based upon your life expericome in and they’d have some beers and ence. He grew up as an Irish Catholic in then the police would be called in to Boston, going to church and being part of round them up. They [the police] drove the community, and all the things that he an open-air police truck and it was so was taught growing up were passed on to cold at night that the guys who drove it me and now to my family and that was had to have a little Irish Paddy [whiskey] that the church was important, communito stay warm and that’s why they called ty service was important, and we all it the Paddy Wagon. Whether it’s true or played sports and were involved in athnot, I have no idea. But it’s a good story, letics. and that’s why I tell it.

We have a family name that has an And like your dad, I know Irish story to it as well. My youngest son you went to work for the is Kenzel Kelly, and we got that from my Democratic Party. That’s an great-grandparents. When they came interesting departure for over from Ireland and they were travela college coach… ing through downtown New York as the Well, it didn’t start that way. Actually, Passion Play [depicting the passion of when I graduated college I went to work Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and

36 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

enjoyed it, it was a great experience but it wasn’t what I was passionate about.

What did you learn from that time?

I would probably say relationship building, how important it is, trust, and also knowing how to work with the media. I was working with the media on a day-to-day basis. So I think it helped me at an early age to work with the media and reach out as best we could to build good relationships.

So when you started coaching, what were your initial plans?

Just to be good at what I was doing, more than anything else. I thought I had a lot to give and the ability to communicate the game and teach it.

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Where did that come from?

I think it was being in the back yard playing basketball with my brother, or going out in the street playing stickball. I think just competing. Today, everything is all planned for kids. When I played, it was just – let’s go play. And you played because you loved to play. You didn’t play for any other reason. Everything is so planned now. Sometimes, I think today, we’ve got kids just playing to play.

So I had that inside, that I was passionate about playing and loved the game and felt like if you’re passionate about something you should be able to teach it.

things that could make this overwhelming. That’s how I operate on a day-to-day basis. I’m confident in the plan and that the people that I have around me will accomplish those goals, and sometimes those goals take some time to reach.

Anything surprise you so far?

I think anytime you take over a new business or a new organization you go in there and you try to find out where the air’s coming out of the tires, so to speak.

We’ve got a good idea of where it was and we’ve been able to address that. I

She did give me a blank look, like, ‘are you sure?’ My daughter, Grace Kelly, said, “Dad, I know it’s your dream job, but I’m crying now because I’m sad for me, because I’m going to miss my friends. I’m happy for you, I’m just sad because I’m moving again for the fourth time in six years.”

I think that’s how the whole family felt. Now that they’re here and they’re settled and they’re around Notre Dame and I can share the things that Notre Dame has with them, it makes it all worthwhile.

How do you cope with the stress?

There’s a lot of stress. I’ve worked hard to take care of myself and getting fit and getting check-ups and all those things because I worked 20 years to get here, I don’t want to have a heart attack while I’m here, you know? I think that’s absolutely a concern and I’m taking it seriously.

Do you get time off at all?

No. This is my time off [doing the interview with Irish America]. You guys get to spend it with me. How lucky are you? No, you get a couple hours here and there. I’ll have dinner with the family tonight – you just pick your spots and when you get a couple of hours, make it quality time.

Who were your football heroes?

Left to Right: Brian Kelly and his wife Paqui.

was pretty well-schooled on the fact that there was going to be a I loved watching Joe Montana The Kelly kids: lot outside of the game itself – Kenzel when I was an Irish fan growing Grace, whether it be the media or and Patrick. up. I’ve never been enamored with alumni or development, just one person. The great ones Coach Kelly is whether it be Thursday night have always caught my attention. pictured with shows, Friday luncheons, his father Paul.

Saturday walk to the basilica, So when you’re there’s so many things. I was coaching Notre Dame prepared for that. obviously it is an incredible I think the surprising thing, more than responsibility. It is like no anything else, was the players and some other job, is it? of the things that they were missing just Well, I think if I thought about that in the game itself, and so that was a bit of every day I’d jump out the window. So I a surprise. But nothing surprises me too try to think about the process. Like I said much. That’s the Irish in me. I’ve always earlier when we began the conversation been this way. about winning and losing. Obviously What did your wife say when winning is much better than losing, but you came home and said it’s a process. I focus more on the process ‘I’m going to Notre Dame?’ of developing a program than on all the

The painting hanging on your wall with the faceless workers is very striking.

You can see they’re Irish…I look at that [and I see] the Irish immigrants who came over and lost their lives and dug the canals. When I first saw it I said, “I’ve got to have that picture.” It also is about where we want to bring our football team – back to its Fighting Irish roots. Back to faceless and nameless. It’s not about superstars but about a team, about trust and commitment and all the things I was taught growing up from my family, from my Irish Catholic roots, and we’re trying to bring Notre Dame back to that, and that’s kind of the full circle here.

That’s the job and the process. When you’ve been in it and it’s ingrained in you and you know where you want to go with it, you don’t get derailed too easily.

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You seem very strong in yourself; you’re not worried what people think.

There’s going to be plenty of opinions. There’s never a shortage of opinions in this business. That’s the great thing about Notre Dame. As long as you understand that, and this is where my background helps me, when I was at University of Cincinnati, nobody cared enough. Here people care too much. It allows me to keep perspective on it, as well, and I know what we want to do. I know what our plan is, and they’ll all be on the bandwagon sooner or later, so I just always reserve room for them.

There are some things at Notre Dame you have to get used to and one of them is TV time-outs. We have to pay the bills, so to speak. It’s hard to keep flow and momentum. It is choppy and I’m working through that right now. I think I’d like to get our players to see their head coach is involved in the game and he’s not just walking up and down the sidelines but he’s invested in it. The coaches that I played for were like that and I enjoyed that.

Now, there’s this line that you can’t cross, but I’ve always felt that that’s the way I’ve played the game and that’s the way I’m going to coach the game.

How do you feel about the game in Ireland – Notre Dame against Navy in 2012?

I can’t wait. I’m so excited. Just can’t tell you how, for me, to go to Ireland to take an American football team to Ireland, how special that’s going to be.

Three years ago, I spent two weeks up and down the West Coast. We golfed, enjoyed all the great courses and all the lively conversation in the pubs. It’s always good to go into a pub and start a conversation about politics. You’re either going to get somebody to buy you one or you’re going to have to leave. [Laughs].

What was it like to go back to Boston – against Boston College?

MICHAEL & SUSAN BENNETT

Anything else surprise you here?

Patrick Kelly, above, and Kenzel, right, love to hang out with Dad when practice is over.

For me, we just needed to win the game. My family loved it. They had 100 people tailgating. Cousins, aunts, uncles, cousins I didn’t know, wanted tickets too. Everybody was my cousin that weekend. I know they had a heck of a time and really enjoyed it, but I’ve been back there twice to play.

When I was at Grand Valley State we went and played Bentley College which is just outside of Boston and beat ’em pretty good, and then came back and beat BC, so I’m doing pretty good in Boston right now.

So what’s your secret to creating a winning team?

I think winning starts with you – [but] you all have to be in it. It’s a team game first of all and it’s not just a bunch of individuals. Those that win at the highest level win as a team, and once you’re able to develop that structure of a team where people care about each other you can then go to work on all the other principles.

Until you have a team that cares about each other you have no chance of winning. When we got here, this was not a team. This was a collection of individuals that played at Notre Dame, and that’s what we’re changing and it’s coming

together pretty good.

You seem deeply aware of the Notre Dame history and its mystique.

Yes. As a football program, we’re getting back to our traditional roots. It should be fun. We’re going to unveil the green jerseys for that game too, (against Army in New York on November 20th) the green is recognizable in certain parts of the country. Green does not work very well here, but in New York green is a good thing. We’re going to be using that helmet right there with a shamrock on it, next year when we play the University of Michigan. We’re going to be using throwback uniforms. We’re going to play the first ever night game at the University of Michigan.

It goes deep. I didn’t know all the history until I read about four of the books, and learned a lot about Notre Dame and how Notre Dame was perceived. It is an incredible history and imparts a great sense of mission. It is just great to be IA here.

Thank you, Coach Kelly.

DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 39

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Business 100 Sponsors We extend a special thanks to all of our sponsors for their support.

Mutual of America The Coca-Cola Company The American Ireland Fund 1-800-Flowers.com UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School Tourism Ireland CIE Tours International Enterprise Ireland IDA Ireland The Irish American Museum of Washington, D.C. Waterford Crystal The Merrion Hotel Dublin Quinnipiac University

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I.A. Business

100

The Business 100 is a celebration of Irish-American corporate success, and this year is no exception. Our list includes honorees 29 CEOs, 7 of the Top 10 Fortune 500 companies, and 4 of the 2010 Forbes Most Powerful Women in the World. Twenty-three Fortune 500 companies are represented. The accomplishments of the men and women on our list are immense, and it is an honor for this magazine to highlight their achievement and success.

We thank all of those who took the time to share their pride in their Irish heritage and what being Irish means to them. Congratulations to all our honorees.

Education:

Counties of Origin:

MOST MENTIONED COLLEGES:

MOST MENTIONED COUNTIES:

University College Dublin • Notre Dame • Harvard • Northwestern • Pace University • University of Pennsylvania

Cork • Galway • Dublin • Mayo • Clare • Donegal

Ancestral Links:

13%

21%

24%

16% 26%

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Page 42

Profiles

Carol Andrews

Charlene Begley

Bank of New York Mellon

General Electric

Carol Andrews was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland and educated in Loreto Convent Foxrock. Her parents both hail from Dublin.

Carol is the Head of Global Client Services for Bank of New York Mellon’s Alternative Investment Services (AIS) business. She is responsible for a global team located in Dublin, Luxembourg, New York, New Jersey, and Singapore. In 2009, she relocated from Dublin to New York when she assumed the global role. With the rapid expansion of the AIS business, Carol often returns to Dublin to meet with her team and clients.

Carol is also very dedicated to the Irish community. She is actively involved in BNY Mellon’s Global Community Partnership, establishing this in Ireland and working with the current charity of the year, Simon Community. She reflects that “Irish people are recognized for their hard work and reliability. We are not afraid to work hard, and this has meant that we have become integral members of the communities in which we live and work.”

Charlene Begley is president and CEO of GE Home & Business Solutions and a senior vice president for GE. Charlene joined GE in 1988 and progressed through leadership roles including vice president, GE Corporate Audit Staff and president and CEO for several GE businesses including GE FANUC Automation, Transportation, Plastics, and Enterprise Solutions. At 32, she became the company's youngest ever corporate officer, and she also set the record as the first woman to lead one of GE’s major business units and the first female senior vice president. Her accomplishments have been recognized on lists in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

Charlene is a member of GE’s Corporate Executive Council and the boards of Morpho Detection, Inc. and the National Association of Manufacturers. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders.

A fifth-generation Irish American, Charlene graduated from the University of Vermont.

Cathleen Black My Irish heritage has “ been a source of pride throughout the years. Personally, I find inspiration in the grit and scrappiness of character that has led to a certain resilience throughout the Irish and Irish-American immigrant experience.

”

Margaret Brennan

Hearst Magazines Cathie Black is head of Hearst Magazines and author of Basic Black,The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life.) For 15 years, first as president and now as chairman, she has managed the financial performance and development of some of the industry’s best-known publications.

A graduate of Trinity Washington University, Cathie became the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine when she joined New York in 1979. In 1983 she joined USA Today and Gannett, its parent company. In 1991 she became president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, where she served for five years before Hearst.

Cathie is a member of the boards of IBM and the Coca-Cola Company, and held a two-year term as chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America. She is a trustee of The University of Notre Dame and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Pending approval from the state Education Commissioner, Cathie will replace Joel Klein as the New York City schools chancellor.

Tom Bradley

Margaret Brennan

FICO

Bloomberg Television

Tom Bradley joined FICO as executive vice president and CFO in April 2009. Previously, he headed North America Operations for Zurich Financial Services, a firm he joined in 2004 as CFO for North America. Before that, he was executive vice president and CFO for The St. Paul Companies. Tom joined St. Paul in 1998 when that company acquired USF&G, where he was serving as vice president of finance and corporate controller.

A graduate of the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Tom also holds a master’s of business administration degree from Loyola College of Maryland and is a certified public accountant. He resides in St. Paul, MN with his wife Michelle and son Andrew.

Tom is a third-generation Irish American. His great-grandfather, Thomas Bradley, came to Newtown, CT from the west coast of County Clare, fought in the Civil War, raised seven sons, and rose from a factory worker to become the town’s selectman and postmaster.

42 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Margaret Brennan is the anchor of “InBusiness with Margaret Brennan,” Bloomberg Television’s weekday business program.

Brennan joined Bloomberg Television in 2009 from CNBC, where she served as a general assignment reporter and contributed to MSNBC and NBC’s “Today Show” and “Nightly News.” She began her business news career in 2002 as a producer for financial news legend Louis Rukeyser.

Graduating with highest distinction from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs and Middle East studies and a minor in Arabic language, Margaret was named an EmmerichWright Scholar for an outstanding thesis. She was a Fulbright-Hays Scholar, is a Whitehead Fellow with the Foreign Policy Association and serves on the Advisory Board of the Smurfit School of Business at the University College Dublin.

Margaret is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Co. Galway on her father’s side and Sligo on her mother’s side.

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Profiles BUSINESS100 Bill Burke

Steve Cahillane

Country Bank

The Coca-Cola Company

Bill Burke is a native of Sligo, Ireland and is a proud graduate of St. Nathy’s College, County Roscommon, which celebrated its bicentenary this year.

Upon arriving in New York, Bill was hired for the executive training program of Franklin National Bank.

Subsequently, he became vice president of Barclay’s Bank, senior vice president of Bank of Ireland and currently serves as vice chairman of Country Bank New York.

Bill has received many accolades for his work in the banking community and his contributions to the American Irish community. He served as Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City in 1988.

Bill is married to Aileen Calnan from West Cork and lives in New Rochelle with his two sons Ross and Reily.

With twenty years of experience in the bevererage industry, Steve Cahillane is president of the North American Group for Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE). Steve is one of four children of a New York firefighter with roots in Co. Kerry and a mother who was born and raised in Donegal and immigrated to New York City at the age of 18. He holds a BA degree in political science from Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard University. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Steve, who began his career as a sales representative for E&J Gallo Winery, held senior management position with Coors Distribution Company, InBev, and Labatt USA. He entered the European beverage industry in 2003, working for two years as chief executive of Interbrew UK and Ireland. Following that, he moved to Brussels and served as chief commercial officer for InBev. In 2007, Steve was appointed president of the Europe Group for CCE, and in 2008, he was named president of CCE’s North American Group. He and his wife Tracy reside in Atlanta with their four children.

Patrick Callaghan

Charles Carey

Pepperidge Farm

CME Group, Inc.

Pat Callaghan is president of Pepperidge Farm, Incorporated, based in Norwalk, CT. A native of Boston, Pat joined Pepperidge Farm in 1979.

His many leadership roles included senior vice president of marketing, senior vice president of strategy/business development, and company president as of 2006.

Pat is a board member and past chairman of both the American Bakers Association and Grain Foods Foundation. He holds a BS degree from Stonehill College and an MBA degree from Suffolk University. He is currently co-chairing a committee that is working on a ten year plan to end homelessness in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Pat is a first-generation Irish American with strong family roots in Ireland. His father was born in Ballynona, Dungorney, County Cork and his mother grew up in Moycullen, at the foothills of Connemara County, Galway. Pat and his wife, Gretchen, live in Huntington, CT. They have two daughters.

Charlie Carey has served as vice chairman of CME Group since July 2007. Previously, he served as chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade and as a member of the CBOT board of directors for eleven years in various roles, including vice chairman, first vice chairman and full member director. In addition to playing a leading role in the CME/CBOT merger to form CME Group, Charlie spearheaded the transformation of CBOT, a member-run institution for more than 155 years, into a for-profit, NYSE-listed public company in 2005.

Charlie has received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Foundation and the Gold Medallion Award from the International Visitors Center of Chicago.

He is president of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, an organization that provides scholarships for underprivileged youths.

A lifelong resident of Chicago whose great-grandfather was born in Ireland, Charlie received a BA in business administration from Western Illinois University.

Liam Casey PCH International Liam Casey is the founder and CEO of PCH International, a supply chain management company focused on the consumer electronics, personal computer, medical device, telecommunication industries, and clean technologies.

Liam identified the enormous potential and opportunities for growth in China in the mid-1990s. PCH was founded in 1996 in Cork, Ireland, where it is headquartered and where Liam was born.

Its operational headquarters are in Shenzhen, China. Over 1000 employees work in PCH offices in Ireland, China, USA, with a software development team in South Africa.

PCH’s clients are primarily multinationals based in North America and include many leading companies. Included amongst PCH’s major clients are three of the top five personal computer companies, three of the top five telecom and networking companies, and three of the top five consumer electronics companies world-wide.

Liam was awarded Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland accolade in 2007.

“Being Irish instills in a person a belief that with hard work and perseverance any challenge can be overcome.

”

Sean O’Sullivan DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 43

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Profiles BUSINESS100 Kieran Claffey

Thomas Codd

PricewaterhouseCoopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Kieran Claffey is a partner at PwC LLP. After joining PwC in 1985, he spent over ten years in the assurance practice, primarily servicing multinational clients. He then transferred to the firm's national office to focus on major litigation and regulatory related issues. He is PwC’s representative on the Technical Standards Committee of the American Institute of CPAs. Kieran was a founding member and director of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States and a director of the European-American Chamber of Commerce. He is currently the national treasurer and board member of the Ireland-U.S. Council of Commerce & Industry. Kieran is also a member of the Board of Trustees of The Gateway Schools that provide a nurturing environment for students with learning disabilities and a director of Legal Information for Families Today. Born in Dublin, Kieran received his BA from University College Dublin. He is also a chartered accountant and a CPA. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Michelle and three sons, Ryan, CJ and Steven.

Thomas W. Codd is north Texas managing partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and an elected member of PwC’s Board of Partners. He has spent his entire career serving manufacturing and distribution companies, including public and private equity-owned companies ranging in size from multi-location companies to multinational corporations. Tom is a director of the American Ireland Fund, a member of the North American Advisory Board of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

He earned a BSc in management from Purdue University. Tom is a second-generation Irish American whose paternal grandparents were born in counties Carlow and Sligo. On his Irish heritage he remarks, “I attribute my fundamental values of work ethic, loyalty, fortitude, humor and grace in large part to my ancestry. Also, Irish heritage enables a connection to an Irish community that stretches around and across the globe.” He and his wife Shelly have four children:Tommy, Kevin, Mike and Kaitlin.

Donald Colleran

J.J. Coneys

FedEx

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Don Colleran is executive vice president of sales for FedEx. Don started his career with FedEx in 1989, serving as an international sales manager then global sales manager in the U.S. before moving to Tokyo in 1992, beginning a 12-year offshore career in international sales and operations management. He was promoted to various sales leadership positions and was appointed to his current position in 2006, currently leading a sales team that taps into a worldwide network that has helped FedEx grow into a $35 billion company.

Don earned a BS degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Indy Festival Foundation children’s charities, a member of the American Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the US-ASEAN Business Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors of InMotion Orthopaedic Research Center.

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Don is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Galway and Cork.

John J. (J.J.) Coneys is vice chairman of PwC responsible for client service in the Metro New York region. Over a 37-year career with the firm he led PwC’s international tax group regionally and nationally, led the entertainment, media and communications practice and was deputy tax leader for the U.S.firm.In the 80’s J.J.helped emerging technology companies establish a presence in Ireland, and in NY in the 90’s established an Irish tax desk to help U.S. companies with Irish operations.

J.J. is on the boards of The Salvation Army of Greater New York and Villanova School of Business. He won the James Joyce impersonation award at 2010 Wild Geese Bloomsday celebration. J.J. visits Ireland often. His maternal ancestors were from Caven and his paternal grandfather came from Clifden,Galway. Another ancestor,Professor Thomas Coneys, wrote the first Gaelic-English dictionary in 1849.

J.J. is a graduate of Villanova and received their Distinguished Young Alumni Medal in 1983. He and his wife Susan live in Greenwich, Connecticut, where they raised their two children.

Deirdre Connelly

Jayne Conway

GlaxoSmithKline

Planet Fitness

Deirdre Connelly is president, North America Pharmaceuticals for GlaxoSmithKline.

She is a member of the global Corporate Executive Team and co-chairs, along with the Chairman, Research and Development, the Portfolio Management Board. Prior to joining GSK, Deirdre served as president of U.S. operations at Eli Lilly and Company. Deirdre has been consistently recognized by Fortune as one of the 50 most powerful women in business. In 2008, she was appointed to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. In 2010, she was named Woman of the Year by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.

Deirdre was born in San Juan to an Irish father and a Puerto Rican mother. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and marketing from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania in 1983. In 2000 she graduated from Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program.

Jayne Conway is the CFO of Planet Fitness, a retail fitness chain known for its judgement free zone atmosphere and friendly prices. It boasts 2.3 million members nationwide, and for two consecutive years has been ranked by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing private businesses in America. Jayne assumed her role at Planet Fitness in May 2010. Prior to that Jayne was the CFO at Gulf Oil LLP. She has also held several leadership positions at Dunkin Brands, including chief strategy officer, as well as being a Bain and Company alumnus.

Jayne holds a BS in industrial engineering from North Carolina State, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She is a thirdgeneration Irish American, and is married to a native Irishman from County Kildare.

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Profiles BUSINESS100 Dennis Crowley

Catherine Coughlin

Foursquare

AT&T

Dennis Crowley is the co-founder of Foursquare, a service that mixes social, locative and gaming elements to encourage people to explore the cities in which they live. Previously, Dennis founded dodgeball.com, one of the first mobile social services in the US, which was acquired by Google in 2005. In 2005 Dennis was named one of the “Top 35 Innovators Under 35” by MIT’s Technology Review magazine. In 2009 he won the “Fast Money” bonus round on the TV game show Family Feud.

His work has featured in The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,Wired,Time, Newsweek, MTV, Slashdot and NBC. Dennis is currently an adjunct professor at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

A fourth-generation Irish American, Dennis holds a master’s degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and a bachelor’s degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. His great-great-grandparents emigrated from Sneem, County Kerry.

Catherine Coughlin oversees AT&T brand strategy, advertising, corporate communications, events and sponsorships worldwide.

Cathy began her communications career in 1979 when she joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in her hometown of St. Louis. During her 30 year career, she has held officer roles in sales, marketing, operations and advertising for AT&T. Prior to her current role, Cathy was president and chief executive officer of AT&T Midwest.Throughout her career, Cathy has been committed to serving the community. She serves on the board of directors of several organizations including Northwestern University, the Girl Scouts of America,After School Matters and the Dallas Women's Museum. She also serves on the board of trustees of the American Film Institute. Cathy holds a BA degree in economics from Northwestern University and a Master of Science in Finance degree from St. Louis University.

John Crowley

Pamela Daley

Amicus Therapeutics

General Electric

John Crowley is the president & CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, a publicly held biopharmaceutical company developing drugs to treat genetic diseases. His involvement stems from the 1998 diagnosis of his children, Megan and Patrick, with Pompe disease: a rare and fatal neuromuscular disorder.

Megan and Patrick were given months to live. John helped to co-found a biotech company called Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, focused exclusively on developing a treatment for Pompe.The company went from a $1 million angel financing to $27 million in venture capital financing and was acquired for nearly $200 million by Genzyme Corporation. In 2003, Patrick and Megan began an experimental enzyme therapy developed by Genzyme that has saved their lives.The Crowley family story was featured in the movie Chasing Miracles, starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, and in a memoir by John entitled Chasing Miracles:The Crowley Family Journey of Strength, Hope and Joy. John graduated from Georgetown, Notre Dame and Harvard. He lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife Aileen, Megan, Patrick, and their oldest son John Jr.

Pamela Daley is senior vice president at General Electric. She earned her AB degree from Princeton University and graduated first in her class from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. Before joining GE, Daley was a tax partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and an adjunct professor at the UPenn Law School.

Pamela joined GE in 1989 as tax counsel and was VP and senior counsel for transactions from 1991 to 2004. In 2004, she became VPcorporate business development and was promoted to her current position in 2005. She is responsible for GE’s mergers, acquisitions and divestiture activities worldwide.

Pamela serves on the boards of General Electric Capital Corporation, GE Capital Services, Inc., and the GE Foundation. She is a member of the boards of UPenn, the UPenn Law School, the World Wildlife Fund and The Juilliard School. She is a second-generation Irish American with roots in Roscommon on her father’s side.

A. James DeHayes

Michael Dolan

DeHayes Consulting Group

Exxon Mobil

A. James DeHayes is an authority on strategy development and implementation in marketing, distribution, and M&A support for the financial services industry. He has successfully guided clients through the complex process of designing and developing distribution systems tailored for new products, enhancing productivity and profitability of existing distribution, and adjusting legacy distribution to new competitive realities.

Prior to founding DeHayes Consulting Group, Jim served as CMO for a major diversified financial services company. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, a graduate of Leadership in Professional Services, a Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant from the American College, and holds an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Jim is a member of the North American Advisory Board for the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin. A second-generation Irish American whose mother’s family has roots in Belfast, Jim is married with six children.

Michael J. Dolan has worked in the oil and petrochemical business for 35 years. He began his career in research and development, and proceeded through a variety of research, engineering, manufacturing and business management positions. Michael has worked in all parts of ExxonMobil’s business both domestically and abroad.

Today he is senior vice president and a member of the management committee of Exxon Mobil Corporation in Dallas,TX. Michael is a director of the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council, the U.S.-China Business Council, and a former director of the American Petroleum Institute. He is also trustee of his alma mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he received a BS in chemical engineering.

Michael holds an MBA from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Ballincollig, Co Cork. He says, “My great-grandfather came to America, served in the army and bought a small farm. His descendants have been living the American dream as a result.” Michael and his wife, Mary, have four children.

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Profiles

John Donahoe

Craig Donohue

eBay Marketplace

CME Group, Inc.

John Donahoe became president and CEO of eBay Inc. on March 31, 2008. In this role, he has global responsibility for growing the company’s core e-commerce and payments businesses, which include eBay and PayPal. As CEO, John has aimed to redefine the company as a global e-commerce and payments leader through a strong focus on innovation and customers.

John joined eBay in 2005 as president of eBay Marketplaces, responsible for all elements of eBay's global e-commerce businesses.

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for eBay Inc. and Intel Corp., John is also on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College. John received a BA in economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

A fifth-generation Irish American, John’s roots are in Tipperary.

He is married to Eileen Chamberlain and they have four children.

Craig Donohue has served as CEO of CME Group and its predecessor company, CME Holdings Inc. since 2004.

Craig is a member of the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council and serves on the steering committee for its Future of Finance Initiative. Craig is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Global Markets Advisory Committee. He is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Council for Economic Education, chairman of the Executives’ Club of Chicago and a board member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He also serves as vice chairman of the CME Group and the NYMEX Foundations.

Before joining CME in 1989, Craig was associated with the Chicago law firm of McBride, Baker & Coles. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University, a JD from John Marshall Law School, an ML in financial services regulation from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and a BA from Drake University. Craig is a third-generation Irish American whose ancestors came from Cork.

Lisa Donohue

John Dooner

Starcom

McCann Worldgroup

Lisa Donohue is CEO of Chicago-based Starcom, whose clients include Bank of America, General Motors, Kellogg’s and Mars/Wrigley.

Prior to tackling the top job at Starcom, Lisa served as president of the truth & design group at SMG sister agency MediaVest. Since launching her career in 1987, Lisa has exhibited strong strategic thinking on a variety of accounts including Kellogg’s, General Motors, Miller, NYSE, Samsonite and Sony.

Lisa is active in the SMG network’s Leadership Board and Global Product Committee, and a board member of SMGx. She is a member of the Advertising Women of New York. She delivered the keynote address at the iMedia Connection Agency Summit and the Chicago CMO Summit in 2010. Her other career accolades include the Chicago magazine Association’s Bill Harmon Award for leading the print media industry; two Mediaweek “Plan of the Year” honors (1995, 2001); and two Cannes Media Lion victories (2001) for work on Nintendo.

Lisa is a third-generation Irish American on her father’s side and fourth-generation on her mother’s. Both families are from Cork.

John J. Dooner, Jr., founder of McCann Worldgroup and for the past 12 years its chairman and CEO, became executive chairman of the company in April 2010.

John formed McCann Worldgroup in 1997 and is credited with building it into one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing marketing communications organizations, with operations in over 30 countries. Built on the foundation of McCann Erickson, the leading global advertising agency network, today six of the seven marketing communications companies comprising Worldgroup are global leaders in their categories.

Vision, energy, consistent delivery of strategic solutions and a persistent dedication to growing Worldgroup’s business by building its clients’ businesses have characterized John’s 35-year career with McCann and its parent company, The Interpublic Group. John, who was born in New York, earned his BA from St. Thomas Villanova University, and traces his Irish roots to his grandparents from County Clare. He and his wife reside in Westchester, New York.

Michael Dowling

Patrick Henry Dowling

North Shore-LIJ Health Systems

White Oak Global Advisors

Michael J. Dowling is president and CEO of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Prior to becoming president and CEO in 2002, Michael was the health system’s executive vice president and COO. Before joining North Shore-LIJ in 1995, he was a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. He served in New York State government for 12 years, including seven years as state director of health, education and human services and deputy secretary to the Governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. Before his public service career, he was a professor and dean at Fordham University.

Michael is chairman of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership and the chairman of the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland.

Michael grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He earned his undergraduate degree from University College Cork and his MA from Fordham.

He has honorary doctorates from Hofstra University and Dowling College.

48 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Pat Dowling has 33 years experience in the finance industry. Prior to joining White Oak Global Advisors LLC as managing partner, he was senior managing director and group head at Tygris Commercial Finance Group where he also was a corporate officer and founder. Before Tygris, he was managing director and general manager of CIT Leveraged Finance Transportation. Pat was previously managing director and industry leader, aerospace and defense, for GE Commercial Finance and had a 22 year career at GE Capital. He is active in The National Chamber Foundation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and The Institute for Defense and Business Foundation. He is a certified public accountant. Pat holds a BS in accounting from Fordham University and a JD from Pace University School of Law. He is a second-generation Irish American whose mother’s family hails from Cork. Pat is married to Kate and has three sons: Patrick, Connor and Mackenzie.

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Michael Duffy

Terrence Duffy

Cardinal Health

CME Group, Inc.

Mike Duffy is executive vice president of Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain for Cardinal Health. Prior to Cardinal Health, Duffy served as vice president, Global Value Chain at The Gillette Co. Mike is president of the Corporate Advisory Council at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business Master of Supply Chain Management Program. He also is a board member for both the Columbus Region Logistics Council and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in operations research and a master’s degree in transportation. He is a fourth-generation Irish American with roots in Dublin on both sides of the family, and ancestors from Kilkenny on his mother’s side. He remarks, “my family is from Boston, where the Irish community is still very active. I am proud to be a descendant of the Irish community that both built the city infrastructure and shaped its local culture. It is that work ethic and sense of purpose that I try to emulate every day.”

The Honorable Terrence A. Duffy has been executive chairman of CME Group since 2007.

Previously, he served as chairman of the board of CME and CME Holdings and as executive chairman. He was vice chairman of the board of CME Holdings Inc. from its formation in 2001 and of the board of CME from 1998 to 2002.Terrence was also president of TDA Trading, Inc. from 1981 to 2002. In 2002, he was appointed to serve on a National Saver Summit on Retirement Savings, and was appointed in 2003 as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of World Business Chicago, the Board of Trustees of Saint Xavier University, the Regional Advisory Board of The American Ireland Fund, and is co-chair of the Mayo Clinic Greater Chicago Leadership Council. He is chairman of the NYMEX Foundation and vice chairman of the CME Group Foundation.A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Terrence is a third-generation Irish American who traces his father’s family to Westport, County Mayo.

Brian Dunn

Mary Callahan Erdoes

Best Buy

J.P. Morgan

Brian Dunn is the CEO of Best Buy Co., Inc., a role he assumed in 2009. A 25-year veteran of the company, Brian began his career at Best Buy as a store associate in 1985. From 2006 until being named to his current position, Brian served as President and COO. Brian also serves on the board of Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc., as well as on the board of The Best Buy Children’s Foundation.

Brian has established himself as a powerful representative of Best Buy’s brand and a decisive architect of organizational transformation. His personal involvement in the site selection and opening process of over five hundred stores provides him with valuable commercial real estate experience.

Due to corporate policy, Brian is unable to supply us with his personal Irish heritage information.

Mary Callahan Erdoes is CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management. In addition to being a member of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s executive and operating committees, Mary leads the firm’s strategic partnership with Highbridge Capital Management and is a member of its board. Prior to being named CEO in 2009, Mary held a number of senior management positions across Asset Management, including as CEO of the Private Bank, and chairman and CEO of Global Wealth Management. She joined J.P. Morgan in 1996 from Meredith, Martin & Kaye.

Mary earned a BS from Georgetown and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Forbes named her one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, and Fortune named her one of The 50 Most Powerful Women. An Illinois native, Mary is a fourth-generation Irish American. Her great-grandparents emigrated from Cork on her father’s side and Tipperary on her mother’s. She lives in New York City with her husband and three daughters.

James Farley

John Farrell

Ford Motor Company

KPMG

James Farley is Ford Motor Company’s group vice president, global marketing, sales and service and is the company’s most senior marketing leader. Before being appointed to his current position in August 2010, Jim was group vice president, global marketing and Canada, Mexico and South America. Before joining Ford, he was group vice president and general manager of Lexus.

James joined Toyota in 1990 and had a distinguished career there, a highlight being his responsibility for the successful launch and rollout of Toyota’s new Scion brand. James was later promoted to vice president of Scion and was responsible for all Scion activities.

A cousin of comedian Chris Farley, James Farley earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and computer science from Georgetown University and has an MBA from UCLA. His grandfather was a longtime Ford worker who eventually ran a Lincoln-Mercury dealership near Detroit. James and his wife Lia have three children.

50 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

John Michael Farrell is a national lead partner for KPMG in enterprise risk management services.With over 20 years risk management and risk/control experience with Fortune 500 multinational clients, John specializes in internal audit, regulatory and compliance services at KPMG. In this position he is responsible for service delivery on priority accounts in the manufacturing and information/communication sectors.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, John received his master’s of science, accounting and MBA, finance, from Long Island University. He is also a certified public accountant in New York State and belongs to the New York State Society of CPAs. Before joining KPMG, John served as the director of internal audit for Minerals Technologies, Inc. John is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Monaghan on his father’s side. His grandmother was one of eleven children born at the turn of the century in New York, whose parents came to America from Ireland in the 1880s.

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Irial Finan

Anne Finucane

The Coca-Cola Company

Bank of America

Irial Finan is executive vice president,The CocaCola Company and president of Bottling Investments and Supply Chain. He is responsible for managing a multi-billion dollar internal Bottling business, Bottling Investments Group (BIG), which has operations in 5 continents. Irial has 29 years experience in The Coca-Cola System. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola HBC. Irial joined the Coca-Cola Company in 2004 as president, bottling investments and supply chain, and was named executive vice president of the company in 2004.

Irial serves on the boards of directors of Coca-Cola FEMSA, CocaCola HBC, and the Supervisory Board of CCE AG. He also serves as a non-executive director for Co-operation Ireland and NUI Galway Foundation.

He holds a BC from National University of Ireland in Galway and is an Associate (later Fellow) of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants. Irial and his wife, Deirdre, have two daughters, Ciara and Roisin.

Anne Finucane is Bank of America’s global strategy and marketing officer, serving as a member of the company’s senior executive management team. During her fifteen years as a senior leader at Bank of America and its legacy firms, Anne has focused on corporate strategy and public policy creation and implementation. Anne joined Bank of America predecessor FleetBoston Financial in 1995.

As founder and chair of Bank of America’s Environmental Council, Finucane leads the company’s environmental initiative. She also oversees the company’s philanthropic giving goal through the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

She serves on the boards of Carnegie Hall, Special Olympics, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation,The American Ireland Fund and the International Center of Journalists.

Anne traces her Irish heritage on both her father’s and mother’s side to County Cork. She lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts with her husband, columnist Mike Barnicle, and their children.

Dave Fitzgerald

John Fitzpatrick

Fitzgerald and Co.

Fitzpatrick Hotel Group

In 1983, Dave Fitzgerald founded Fitzgerald & Co. He remains president and CEO. His company was named the Best Agency in the Southeast by Adweek, and named one of the 10 best companies in Atlanta to work for by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

A second-generation Irish American, Dave ran the Order of the Green Jacket of Ireland, which helped raise funds for Irish athletes in the 1996 Olympics. A member of the AOH, the Metropolitan Atlanta Police Emerald Society, and the Hibernian Benevolent Society, he has twice been Grand Marshal of the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Dave received his BA and MBA from Dayton University, where he was honored with an Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. He traces his family to the western counties of Kerry and Sligo, has visited Ireland thirty-five times and became an Irish citizen two years ago. He calls his Irish heritage “a source of great pride.”

John Fitzpatrick is president and CEO of the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, North America. John began his impressive career almost thirty years ago with a hotel management course in Ireland, followed by the prestigious hotel management course at UNLV in Las Vegas. He then returned to Ireland to work at the family hotels in Dublin and Bunratty, before moving back to the U.S. in 1991. He serves as chairman of the Hotel Association of NYC and is on the boards of the American Ireland Fund and the Ireland-US Council. In 2002, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. In 2008, he was recognized for his contributions to the peace process in Northern Ireland with an honorary OBE. John is very active in a number of philanthropic activities that aid children in need and advance the peace process in Northern Ireland. In 1993 he founded the Eithne and Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Foundation in memory of his parents.The foundation has generated more than $1.3 million for charities dedicated to such causes.

Shane Fitzsimons

William Flynn

General Electric

Mutual of America

Shane Fitzsimons is General Electric’s vice president of corporate financial planning and analysis. Prior to assuming this role in 2004, he held several financial leadership positions, including finance manager for GE Engine Services, a $4B division of GE Transportation, Aircraft Engines.

Immediately prior to his role in Engine Services, he was manager of group financial planning and analysis for Aircraft Engines.

Originally from Co. Cork, Ireland, Shane studied chartered accountancy at the Cork Institute of Technology. After spending seven years in public accounting both in Ireland and in the Netherlands, he joined GE Plastics in the Netherlands in 1994.

Shane is a member of the Bridgeport Hospital Board of Directors, Co-chair of Team Connecticut for the Special Olympics and President of the GE Volunteers Foundation.

He is married to Deirdre, a medical researcher. They have four children: Keelin (12), Eoin (10), Conor (5) and Ciaran (3). His interests include travel and golf.

52 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

During his 34 years with Mutual of America, Bill Flynn established himself as a great leader whose business skills were reflected in Mutual of America’s performance and recognized throughout the life insurance industry. Now Mutual’s chairman emeritus, Bill’s commitment to social justice continues to be felt in the success of the Irish peace process and the work of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP). As the first Irish-American chairman of the NCAFP, it was Flynn who invited all of Northern Ireland’s political leaders, including Gerry Adams, to the U.S., a move that propelled Northern Ireland into the peace process.

A graduate of Fordham University, Bill is a first-generation Irish American with roots in Counties Mayo and Down. In 1996, he was Grand Marshal of New York City’s St. Patrick's Day Parade.

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Jack Foley

William Clay Ford Jr.

Aer Lingus

Ford Motor Company

As executive vice president of Aer Lingus, Jack Foley oversees all strategic, operational and marketing programs in North America.

A customer-focused airline that offers a professional, efficient and friendly service, Aer Lingus was the first airline to apply the pricing strategies of discounters such as Southwest and America West to trans-Atlantic travel. The company receives less than two complaints per thousand customers in the busiest period of travel.

Jack has come a long way from his first job in the airline business, as a bag loader for Lufthansa at JFK.That job, however, paid for his bachelor of science and MBA in international marketing from St. John’s University. In 1979, Jack joined British Airways and rose to the position of vice president of marketing in the U.S. In 1996 he was recruited by Aer Lingus to manage their TransAtlantic division.

A second-generation Irish American with roots in County Cork, Jack is on the board of directors of the Ireland-U.S. Business Council. He lives on Long Island with his wife and their son.

Executive chairman William Clay Ford, Jr., is leading the company that put the world on wheels into the 21st century.

William joined Ford in 1979 as a product planning analyst. He held a variety of domestic and international assignments in manufacturing, sales, marketing, product development and finance, before becoming vice president, Commercial Truck Vehicle Center in 1994. He served as CEO from October 2001 to September 2006. A member of the board since 1988, he became chairman in 1999. He also serves as chairman of the board’s Environmental and Public Policy Committee.

William holds a BA degree from Princeton and an MS degree in management as an Alfred P. Sloan fellow from MIT. An avid fly fisherman, he enjoys playing hockey and tennis and is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. William is the great-grandson of Henry Ford, who was the son of an Irish immigrant from Cork. Henry “put the world on wheels by making personal mobility affordable.”

Michael Gallagher

Colleen Goggins

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Johnson & Johnson

Michael Gallagher is U.S. assurance national office leader at PwC and a member of PwC’s U.S. Board of Partners. With a career spanning 25 years, Michael has worked on client assignments involving numerous multinational SEC registrants and held various national office roles and leadership positions. He became a practice partner at PwC’s Philadelphia office in 1996 and then joined the national office in 2003, starting out as a National Office ACS Partner. In 2004, he became a U.S. Risk Management Leader and was later made U.S. Chief Accountant before moving to his current position. He serves on the Center for Audit Quality’s Professional Practice Executive Committee.

Born in Philadelphia, Michael earned a BS in accounting from Frostburg State University. A third-generation Irish American whose paternal ancestors emigrated from Galway, he takes “great pride in coming from such a warm and proud people, known for deep wisdom, intellectual curiosity, and, perhaps most importantly, great humor.” He and his wife Gina have three children.

Colleen Goggins is a member of the Johnson & Johnson Executive Committee and has served as Worldwide Chairman, Consumer Group since June, 2001. Colleen joined Johnson & Johnson in 1981.

Colleen earned a BS in food chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and an MM from Northwestern University’s Business School.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Historic Morven, Inc. and the Nature Conservancy in New Jersey and a Board Member for the CDC Foundation.

Colleen, whose Irish heritage is on her father’s side, is proud of Johnson & Johnson’s Women’s Leadership Initiative designed to support leadership development of the firm’s female employees around the world.

Jack Haire

James Hannan

Parade Publications

Georgia-Pacific LLC

Jack Haire is president and CEO of Parade Publications. Under his leadership, Parade built a unique content distribution network with 40 million monthly visitors across 400 newspaper web sites. Earlier this month, Parade launched dash, a new food magazine and web business that will include branded content from Bon Appétit, Epicurious.com and Gourmet.

Before joining Parade, Jack spent 28 years at Time Warner Inc. During his tenure, he was publisher of TIME, president of the Fortune/Money Group, and chairman of the Time Warner Advertising Council. On his watch, both Time and Fortune were chosen as Adweek’s Hottest Magazine. He partnered with CNN on the launch of CNNMoney.com. Jack serves on the board of Concern Worldwide and as a director of LodgeNet Interactive and Top Ten Reviews.

Jack lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children. He enjoys reading, golf, fishing, and all sports. His great-grandparents came from Cork and Donegal to NYC through Ellis Island during the Famine.

Jack’s brother and sister have homes in Glen, Donegal.

54 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Jim Hannan is CEO and president of Georgia Pacific L.L.C., a position he has held since 2007.

Prior to his current post with Georgia Pacific, Jim worked with Koch Industries.

With the 2005 acquisition of Georgia Pacific

by Koch, Jim was named the executive vice president and chief administration officer and was later promoted to president and COO. Jim attended California State University, East Bay campus, where he received his bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Jim resides in Atlanta where he is a board member of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the Atlanta History Center, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Woodruff Arts Center, Holy Innocents Episcopal School and the Commerce Club. He is a member of the boards of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, and current chairman of the board of the American Forest and Paper Products Association.

Jim is a fourth-generation Irish American. His great-great-grandmother came to the U.S. in the mid-1800s from County Cork.

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John Hayes

James Heekin

American Express

Grey Group

For the past 14 years, John Hayes has overseen global marketing efforts at American Express.

In addition to overseeing marketing strategies and product development, John leads the company’s global advertising, digital marketing strategy, market research, corporate sponsorships, brand management and publishing organizations. He has continued American Express’s tradition of giving back through programs such as “Charge Against Hunger,” “Save The Music,” and “Members Project,” allowing cardmembers to choose causes for American Express to support.

Prior to joining American Express, John was the president of Lowe and Partners, and held senior positions at Geer DuBois, Ammirati & Puris and Saatchi & Saatchi Compton.

John served on the Tiger Woods Foundation board from 19992006, and currently chairs the Leadership Committee of the National Peace Corps Association.

James R. Heekin III became chairman and CEO of Grey Group in January 2007, after leading Grey, the company’s global advertising arm, since 2005.

Advertising Age named Grey to its prestigious A-List of the world’s best agencies. Prior to Grey, Jim served as chairman and CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide, a subsidiary of Havas.

Earlier in his career, Jim served as chairman and CEO of McCannErickson WorldGroup and McCann-Erickson Worldwide.

A graduate of Williams College, Jim has served previously on the Board of Directors for JWT, the Interpublic Group of Companies, The American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Ad Council. A fourth-generation Irish American whose father’s family came from Co. Donegal, Jim says that he has been “proud to witness and be a small part of the rise of the Irish in America and the transformation of Ireland.”

Mike Hemingway

Donagh Herlihy

Thirdhunger/Brandhunger

Avon

In 2009, Mike founded two companies: Thirdhunger and Brandhunger. Both these businesses focus on helping companies and well known personalities incorporate social responsibility into their mass communications and creativity.Thirdhunger connects primarily with the creative communities.

Brandhunger helps train marketing companies.

In June 2000, Mike was invited to join Ogilvy & Mather in New York, to work on Kodak, as worldwide director. In 2004, Mike took over the worldwide Unilever Dove business. Between 1995 and 2000, Mike helped develop and lead an Advertising Training Seminar titled: “How to Create Award Winning, Effective Advertising.” It took place in nearly 20 countries.

Mike’s father, one of the last surviving Irish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain in WWII, was born in Dublin. Mike and his wife have four sons. One is actor Toby Hemingway. In the little spare time he has, Mike writes illustrated fiction that he hopes will inspire children of all ages.

Donagh Herlihy is senior vice president and CIO at Avon Products Inc. Herlihy joined Avon in March 2008 from the Wrigley Company where he also was CIO. During his 7 years there, he drove the transformation of Wrigley’s organization and business processes. In addition to leading IT, Donagh also served successively as Vice President of Human Resources and Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Planning.

Donagh holds a BS in industrial engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology & Trinity College, Dublin, and has completed the Executive Program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

He is a board member of The American Red Cross,Westchester, New York.

Donagh was born in Dublin and grew up in Wexford. He reflects, “my Irish upbringing left me very comfortable moving around the world, living and working in different environments.”

Thomas Hogan

James Houlihan

Hewlett-Packard

Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty

Tom Hogan serves as executive vice president of sales, marketing and strategy for the Enterprise Business at HP. Tom previously was EVP of HP Software and Solutions, and before joining HP in 2006, served as president and CEO of Vignette.

Prior to Vignette, Tom was senior vice president of global sales and operations at Siebel Systems. He began his career at IBM in 1982.

Tom holds a master of management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, graduating with distinction with concentrations in finance, international business and organizational behavior. He also holds a BS in biomedical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Tom’s great-grandfather and great-grandmother Michael P. and Anna Stafford Hogan came to Dubuque, Iowa from Wexford, Ireland and were married in 1890 in Dubuque. Tom is a fourth-generation Irish American on his mother’s side, from the town of Spiddal in Galway where he descends from Mary Costello who married Robert Blaney, a third-generation American.

56 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

James J. Houlihan is a licensed real estate broker and represents the fourth generation in a family business founded in 1891 by his great-grandfather. He is a partner at Houlihan-Parnes Realtors, LLC of White Plains, New York. Jim is an active partner in Metro Property Group, LLC and a partner in HP Capital, LLC. He is also on the board of directors for Q10 Capital, LLC. Houlihan has served as chairman of the Great Hunger Memorial Committee of Westchester County. Jim curates the exhibit “The Fighting Irishmen: A Celebration of the Celtic Warrior” It originally opened in 2006 at the Irish Arts Center, and continued at the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan, at the John J. Burns Library at Boston College, Ulster American Folk Park in Co.Tyrone and at the GAA Museum at Croke Park, Dublin. He is a graduate of Fordham University.A fourth-generation Irish American on his father’s side with roots in Kenmare, Kerry, and second-generation on his mother’s side, with roots in Tyrone and Donegal, Jim lives in Bronxville with his wife Pat and their five children.

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HALL OF FAME

The

Corporate

Chieftain On November 30, Donald Keough was the first honoree to be inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame, which has just been established by Irish America magazine. The following is a glimpse of Mr. Keough’s extraordinary life story from poor but proud farm family in Iowa to an international business career as president and COO of Coca-Cola. Through all his corporate success he never lost sight of his Irish heritage. Story by Kevin Whelan and Niall O’Dowd.

A Life in America The rise of the Keough family from the prairies to the pinnacle of Wall Street is the story of Irish America in microcosm.

If the immigrant Michael Keough could see his great-grandson today, what would he think? He would recognize in Don Keough the classic Irish immigrant values of commitment to family and faith, community and country, hard work, determination, good humor, lack of pretentiousness, unflagging energy, an ability to adapt to fresh challenges, an attitude that people should wear out, not rust out. The poet Robert Frost said of America: “Our most precious heritage is what we haven’t in our possession – what we haven’t made, and so have still to make.” Don Keough embodies the possibility of America, its dynamism, its optimism and its can-do spirit.

Donald Keough’s great-grandfather Michael Keough left County Wexford in the 1840s and arrived in America where he married Hanora Burke. Then only seventeen years old, Hanora gave birth to a son, John, the year they married. The courageous young newly-weds went on to have nine children between 1848 and 1875, settling on the prairies of 58 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Donald Keough and his wife Marilyn “Mickie” at the American Irish Historical Society at a banquet in 2009. Don received the Society’s Gold Medal in 1991. Opposite page: Don during his time as President and COO of Coca-Cola.

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Don – you are always the guy who is on time for every meeting, the one with the sharpest thoughts and the one with the best ideas. . .

May you tap dance into life for many years to come.

— Declan Kelly, U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland

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What truly makes Donald Keough stand out is his integrity. When Don tells you something you can bank on it. He always does the right thing.

– Denis P. Kelleher, founder and CEO of Wall Street Access

northwest Iowa to become sodbusters, farmers and cattlemen.

No doubt it was the notion of stepping off their own acreage that brought Michael and Hanora to the plains, yet they must have felt lonely for the hills, trees and mountains they left behind in Ireland. It would be almost a century before any of their descendants made it back to the land of their birth.

The Iowa winters were harsh and Michael and his sons had to drive their horses miles to chop down wood so that the family would survive. Then there were the grasshopper plagues of 1874, 75 and 76 that swept across Iowa like a biblical swarm of locusts. But Michael Keough was tough and so were his sons.

By the time he passed away on October 2, 1904, the family had solid roots in America.

John continued homesteading, growing oats and potatoes and raising cattle after his father passed away. He married Kate Foley, the daughter of a businessman, and they had four sons: Leo, Lloyd, Verne and Frank.

Later in life, John’s sons recalled that their father had worked them almost to breaking point, not out of harshness, but the need to survive. When John expired just one week after building “a fine new

modern home” for his family, the responsibility for the farm fell on Leo, the eldest son.

It was on this farm that Donald Keough was born in 1926, the youngest of Leo and his wife Veronica’s three sons.

Don remembers his father Leo as a man of sunny outlook, a disciplined, hardworking man who never let his family down. After a fire burned the family home to the ground and everything was lost with the exception of Hanora’s Irish wedding shawl and the family Bible, Leo moved the family to Sioux City where he found work in the stockyard.

“He had the ability to look at forty head of cattle and the intuitive knowledge to know within five pounds what each weighed,” Don recalled in an interview with Niall O’Dowd.

As a 15-year-old, Don learned the sales patter and how to negotiate and close a deal. When he got suckered in a small deal, he learned a valuable lesson: “Watch the cattle, not the man,” his boss told him. In other words, know what you are buying and don’t be influenced by the hype of the person selling.

“There is no question that everything I know about business I learned in that stockyard. I learned how to weigh someone up, to know the weakness and

Don’s love for Ireland is deep, personal, and legendary.

And he has ensured that it was no empty vessel. Through so many initiatives, business and personal, he has ensured the flowing of practical, tangible benefits to Ireland.

– Mary McAleese, President of Ireland 60 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Of all the people I know, Don Keough moves me up the most. He has an optimistic view of me and what I am, to the extent that he raises my sights and makes me believe more in myself and the world around me. I wish everybody had this talent, but I know nobody who has it better than him.

– Warren Buffett

strength of your own position, and realize the fundamentals – that he wants to sell and you have the money to buy, and leverage that,” he told O’Dowd.

Don’s mother, a schoolteacher, was determined that her sons would have the best education possible. “My mother was tough but loving,” Don remembered. “She never spared you because she knew we were in tough circumstances and that education and self-reliance were the way out.”

Striking Out on His Own In August of 1944, just shy of his 18th birthday, Don left for the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. His brothers had already enlisted. Emmett was serving under George Patton in Europe and Wayne was in air force. In a strange twist

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Left to right: Donald Keough, President of Ireland Mary McAleese, and Martin Naughton. Don and his friend Johnny Carson. Don and his wife Mickie at Ashford Castle in 2006 with 16 of their 18 grandchildren (two could not make the trip because of school). Don’s parents, Veronica and Leo, on their 50th wedding anniversary.

of fate, Don was not shipped overseas but to a Navy psychiatric hospital in Newport, Rhode Island where he would care for soldiers who were traumatized by war.

It was a lot for an 18-year-old to absorb, but Don quickly developed a rapport with the men, and found that a little kindness went a long way. “I learned to respect people’s dignity. No matter how far they had fallen these were brave men caught up in something that was far greater than themselves.”

honeymooned in Chicago, a rushed fiveday affair because Don was due back at WOR where he had landed the assignment of being the commentator on the first ever televised transmission of a live sports event west of Chicago.

It was a National Football League preseason game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants.

“Luckily there were only a few hundred television sets in the area at the time,” Don recalled with a grin.

Soon he was making the acquaintance

Don, whose family roots lie in County Wexford – where the Keoughs were the hereditary bards to the ruling MacMurrough Kavanagh dynasty – has been a dynamic, vigorous and visionary presence in American life for over half a century, but he has also been a dynamic catalyst in Irish America, supporting Irish business, education and culture.

– Kevin Whelan, Director of the Keough-Naughton Centre in Dublin

After the war, Don moved to Omaha, Nebraska and entered Creighton University on the G. I. Bill. Among his neighbors in Omaha was Warren Buffet, who became his life-long friend.

Following graduation, Don started a career as a talk-show host in Omaha, and just before he started on his chosen career, he got married.

Marilyn “Mickie” Mulhall, who had family on both sides from Iowa, took his eye. It was love at first sight. The couple married at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral in Omaha on September 10, 1949 and

of the other television newcomer, John Carson. The friendship blossomed when Keough, Carson and their wives found themselves living opposite each other in a local apartment building.

Carson’s show directly followed Keough’s “Coffee Break,” and he often found himself producing it. “He was just shaping his own unique humor; he found humor in everything,” Don remembered.

He might well have gone to a successful television career like Carson, but he realized that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and growing family.

He’d had enough of working “football weekends.”

Carson moved to Los Angeles and Keough to a company called Butternut Coffee where he was instrumental in the company’s sponsorship of Carson’s first ever television show.

Within a few years, Butternut was acquired by Duncan Foods, which in turn was taken over by Coca-Cola. “Suddenly, we were part of a whole new ball game,” Don remembers.

He found himself as number two to a legendary Coke hand, Luke Smith, who saw something in the young Midwesterner. Meanwhile, Charles Duncan, Keough’s mentor, was a major success in his assignments for Coca-Cola.

In 1971 Duncan was elected president of the company. Luke Smith, who was Keough’s immediate superior, was called back to Atlanta, and Don was elected head of Duncan Foods, which was renamed the Coca-Cola Foods Division.

Keough went on to a brilliant career.

He was appointed as head of all the Americas for Coca-Cola in 1976, and in 1981 he was appointed president, chief operating officer and director.

He enjoyed running the iconic company, he told Niall O’Dowd. “I had passion for what I was doing. I always believed that you have to have people at the top who are passionate about their company, and that that is communicated down through the ranks.” He went on to say, “The task of leaders in business is to convince the people who work for you that what you are suggesting for them is in their best interest. It is like a perpetual DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 61

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There is no one we would rather visit Ireland with than Don Keough. It is like coming home. He is the shepherd and we are his sheep. It is great to be in the flock! He has a great understanding of the country, its people, its history, its customs and its culture.

– Andrew J. McKenna, Chairman of McDonald’s and Owner and Chairman of Schwarz Paper Co. Donald Keough receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame president Fr. Hesberg in 1985. It is a measure of Don’s standing that both of Notre Dame’s partner universities, TCD and UCD, have conferred honorary doctorates on him.

marriage, you get along to go along, you have difficulties, spats, but you have to sit down and say we are going to work this out.”

Waking Up the Irish Echoes It is typical of the prescience of Don Keough that after a career in corporate America, he turned to a venture of a different kind, one that would pay tribute to the land of his ancestors.

When he retired as president and COO of Coca-Cola in 1993 (he would retain a seat on the board of directors), Don turned his focus to Notre Dame and, with an endowment of $2.5 million, established the Keough Institute of Irish Studies, and the Keough Notre Dame Centre in Dublin, Ireland.

“Notre Dame didn’t have any type of academic Irish Studies program. It just seemed like a natural fit to me,” Keough said at the time.

Since then, with Don driving it on, and backed by Andy McKenna and Patrick McCartan, his friends and successors as Chair of the Trustees, Irish Studies at Notre Dame has gone from strength to strength, attracting world-class scholars such as Seamus Deane, Breandán Ó Buachalla and Declan Kiberd. Don also forged a close partnership with Martin Naughton, insisting that for an IrishAmerican partnership to work properly, it had to have a balanced leadership.

From the beginning, Don Keough wisely insisted that Notre Dame could only forge a strong relationship with Ireland through a genuine immersion in

Irish life, and through close collaboration with Irish partners. Notre Dame operates a trilateral partnership with University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, and almost one thousand Notre Dame students have studied there. Their positive Irish experience encourages them to become what Don Keough has always been – a lifelong advocate for Ireland. It is typical of Don’s vision that he was so quick to realize how significant the nurturing of these linkages would become.

Don has always stressed that, as we seek to enrich other people’s lives, we really enrich ourselves, and that that motivation lies at the heart of all philanthropy. That is the true measure of a charismatic man who has greatly impacted thousands of lives, who has brought wise counsel, good humor, vigor and momentum to strengthening the relationship between Ireland and America, and who has enriched us all through his generous leadership. Don Keough has a unique ability to make people feel valued and appreciated, and to spur them on in

their endeavors.

An old Irish proverb says “Beidh sé molta da mbéadh mé i mo thost” (‘He would be praised even if I were silent’).

When he was granted Irish citizenship in 2007, the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, presented Don with a vellum inscription which included a phrase from the Book of Sirach, chosen by Don’s good friend Fr. Timothy Scully CSC:

Don is regarded by so many Americans of Irish heritage as the #1 representative of Irish America. He does so much for so many including Notre Dame, but his largess has gone far beyond that.

William Flynn, Chairman Emeritus, Mutual of America.

“A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: He who finds one finds a treasure.”

For all those who know, love, admire and are inspired by this great man, Don Keough has surely been a ‘sturdy shelter’ and when you are with him, you are indeed in the presence of an American IA and an Irish treasure.

Don Keough has always been in my Hall of Fame. One of my first trips to Ireland was with Bill Flynn and Don Keough. Could anyone get a better introduction to the Emerald Isle?

Let’s all raise a glass in honor of a true Irish gentleman and, now, the first recipient of Irish America magazine’s Hall of Fame Award!

– Tom Moran, Chairman, President & CEO, Mutual of America DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 63

Congratulations to Don Keough st A perfect 1 Choice for the Hall of Fame

Andy McKenna

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Profiles BUSINESS100 James Hynes

Kevin Keane

Neutral Tandem, Inc.

ODMD, LLP

James Hynes is the executive chairman of Neutral Tandem, Inc., the company he co-founded in 2003. He was previously group managing director for Fidelity Ventures and Founder and CEO of COLT telecommunications in Europe.

Hynes received his BA and an honorary doctorate from Iona College and an MBA from Adelphi University.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Insite Wireless and also serves on the North American Board of the Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD. A first-generation Irish American, James has connections to County Limerick, where his father is from, and Arklow, County Wicklow, where his mother was born.

When asked what his Irish heritage meant to him, James, who is married with twin daughters, replied, “Closeness to my Irish heritage provides a touching point to my forebears and sense of continuity and stability. It helps me better understand many things about myself, my family and so many of my friends.”

Kevin J. Keane, CPA, is the managing partner and a member of the executive committee of O’Connor Davies Munns & Dobbins, LLP. He has over 30 years experience providing accounting and business advisory services to businesses in the real estate, construction and distribution industries.

Kevin serves on boards and finance committees including the Irish Arts Center, Archbishop Stepinac High School, and The John E. Coleman School of the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center. He is a director and founder of The Westchester Bank. Kevin holds an MBA in corporate finance from Pace University and a BS in accounting from the State University of NY at Albany.

Kevin is a second-generation Irish American whose grandparents came from Cork and Clare. A member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, he says that “Irish heritage and traditions have been the cornerstone of my family and my beliefs, enhancing my abilities and my success in business.” Kevin is married with five children and lives in White Plains, New York.

David Kelly

Fran Kelly

J.P. Morgan

Arnold Worldwide

Dr. David Kelly is the chief market strategist for J.P. Morgan Funds.With over 20 years of experience, Kelly provides valuable insight and perspective on the economy and markets to thousands of financial advisors and their clients. He is a keynote speaker at many national investment conferences and a frequent guest on CNBC and other financial news outlets.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Funds, David served as economic advisor to Putnam Investments. He has also served as a senior strategist/economist at SPP Investment Management, Primark Decision Economics, Lehman Brothers and DRI/McGraw-Hill.

David is a CFA charterholder and has a PhD and MA in economics from Michigan State University, and a BA in economics from University College Dublin. Born in Ireland, David says that “being Irish in America makes you respected before you say anything smart, makes you amusing before you say anything funny and makes you a friend before you’ve done anything to earn it. For me it has always been the best passport to America.”

Fran Kelly is a driven vice chairman and a selfdescribed branding and integrated marketing fanatic. He believes in the power of big ideas intelligently executed and has helped dozens of clients find their big idea over his 25+ years in advertising. Fran joined Arnold in 1994 as CMO. In 1995, he helped Arnold’s integrated team develop the now famous “Drivers wanted.” campaign for VW. Titleist, FootJoy, Ocean Spray, truth®,TAG, Jack Daniels, Royal Caribbean, Citizens Bank,Talbots and Hershey’s are additional brand success stories he has been part of at Arnold. Fran became President of Arnold in 2002 and was named CEO in early 2006. His career started at Young & Rubicam in 1978.

Fran is a graduate of Amherst College and the Harvard Business School. He is a passionate public speaker and co-author of What They Really Teach You at the Harvard Business School and The Breakaway Brand.

He is a third-generation Irish-American whose father’s ancestors came from Kilshanny, Co. Clare, and whose mother’s family emigrated from Dublin. Fran is the proud father of 20-year-old twins.

Margaret Kelly

Robert Kelly

RE/MAX LLC

Bank of New York Mellon

Margaret Kelly became RE/MAX CEO in 2005, capping a series of leadership positions she has held since joining the organization as a financial analyst in 1987. She was named vice president in 1992 and president in 2002.

In January 2010, Kelly was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Denver Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. She has been honored by Inman News as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders of 2009 and by Realtor magazine as one of Real Estate’s 25 Most Influential Thought Leaders in 2006. She speaks before industry groups around the U.S., has served as CEO guest anchor on CNBC’s “The Call,” and has been quoted by The Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters and other media outlets. She grew up in the Detroit area and earned a BBA in finance and accounting from Walsh College.A breast cancer survivor, Margaret is an advocate of the RE/MAX national sponsorship of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® series.

Margaret finds time to enjoy a very active life with her husband, John and their two sons. She is a third-generation Irish American.

Robert Kelly is chairman and CEO of The Bank of New York Mellon. He was named one of America’s Best CEOs in 2009 by Institutional Investor magazine and a top 10 bank CEO in 2006 and 2007 by U.S. Banker magazine.

Bob is chairman of the Financial Services Forum and president of the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Financial Services Roundtable, the Institute of International Finance, and the Partnership for New York City. He is on the boards of trustees of Carnegie Mellon and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and is chancellor of St. Mary’s University.The American Irish Historical Society named Bob as its 2010 Gold Medal recipient.

Bob is a chartered accountant with an MBA and an honorary doctorate from Cass Business School, City University in London and a BA and honorary doctorate from St. Mary’s University, Nova Scotia, Canada. His Irish roots are in Waterford. He and his wife Rose have two children, Brad and Elise.

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Profiles BUSINESS100 Shaun Kelly

Christopher Kennedy

KPMG

Merchandise Mart

Shaun Kelly is vice chair of operations for KPMG, responsible for forecasting, planning and monitoring the execution of the firm’s financial plan, and a member of KPMG’s management committee. He was previously vice chair of KPMG’s U.S. tax practice and regional head of the Americas tax practice.

Shaun grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, joined KPMG International’s Irish member firm in Dublin in 1980 and transferred to the U.S. firm’s San Francisco office in 1984. He was admitted to the U.S. partnership in 1999. Shaun earned a bachelor of commerce, first class honors from University College, Dublin. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and a certified public accountant.

Shaun is treasurer and member of the executive committee of Students in Free Enterprise. He is co-chair of KPMG’s Disabilities Network and a member of KPMG’s Diversity Advisory Board.

Shaun lives in Connecticut with his wife Mary, who was born in Donegal, and their four children, two of whom were born in Belfast and two in California.

Christopher Kennedy, son of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, is president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc (MMPI). MMPI is a trade show and property management firm, with buildings and shows throughout North America. MMPI is a division of the Vornado Realty Trust, which purchased it from the Kennedy family in 1998.

Chris joined the company as a research analyst in 1987, becoming a vice president in 1991 and executive vice president in 1994.

He was appointed president in 2000. Chris is involved in numerous nonprofit and civic groups, including The Commercial Club of Chicago, The Executives Club and serves on the Executive Committee for The Chicago Community Trust. In 2009, the Governor of Illinois appointed Chris chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Illinois.

Married with four children, Kennedy earned his bachelor's degree at Boston College, and a master's in management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Scott Keogh

Ellen Kullman

Audi of America

DuPont

Scott Keogh assumed the role of CMO of Audi of America in 2006. In this position he oversees all marketing communications, product planning and product launch efforts, including leading the company’s marketing effort to further elevate the Audi brand in the U.S. Prior to joining Audi, Scott worked at Mercedes-Benz USA for more than a decade. Most recently, he was general manager, marketing communications. Previous positions at Mercedes-Benz included general manager, Smart USA where Scott was responsible for sales, marketing, product planning and retail development for the new automotive brand.

Scott has a BA from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York. He is a second-generation Irish American. His mother’s family came from Counties Sligo and Antrim, his father’s from Co. Carlow. Scott remarks that his Irish heritage “acts as a powerful and beautiful anchor in an often transient world.”

Ellen Kullman is chair of the board and chief executive officer of DuPont. She was previously president through Dec. 31, 2008. Prior to that, she served as executive vice president and a member of the company’s office of the chief executive.

A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Ellen began her career at DuPont in 1988 as a marketing manager.

She is a member of the U.S.-India CEO Forum, the Business Council, and the executive committee of SCI-America. She is co-chair of the National Academy of Engineering Committee on Changing the Conversation: From Research to Action.

Ellen is on the board of trustees of Tufts University and serves on the board of overseers at Tufts University School of Engineering.

Prior to joining DuPont, Ellen worked for General Electric. She holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts and a masters degree in management from Northwestern. Ellen is a third-generation Irish American whose mother’s family came from Nenagh,Tipperary.

MacDara Lynch

Joanne Maguire

Pfizer

Lockheed Martin

MacDara Lynch is the vice president/team leader of Pfizer’s Global External Supply Division. He joined Pfizer in 1972 in Ringaskiddy, Cork and over the years has worked in various roles in Belgium, Indonesia, and Nebraska. In 2000, MacDara transferred to Brooklyn as site leader for the manufacturing facility and in 2003 he was appointed as vice president/ team leader of Pfizer’s Global Manufacturing Division, United States East/Canada Region before assuming his current position in 2007.

Born in Bandon, Co. Cork, MacDara graduated from University College Cork in 1972 with a BSc degree in chemistry.Throughout his travels, he has always been active in the local community. He served as Honorary Irish Consul in Indonesia for two years and served on Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation’s board of directors. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Ireland - U.S. Council and Cooperation Ireland. MacDara and his wife Ita have three children and two grandchildren and live in Connecticut. He says being Irish “helps to refocus on what is really important in life.”

Joanne Maguire is executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company business area and an officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Joanne serves on the board of directors for United Launch Alliance and on the boards of two nonprofit organizations, Space Foundation and INROADS. Joanne assumed her current position in 2006. She previously served as vice president and deputy of SSC. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin in 2003, she worked at TRW's Space & Electronics sector, now Northrop Grumman Space Technology.

Joanne earned a BA from Michigan State University and an MA from UCLA. She is a graduate of the executive program in management at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and completed the Harvard Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security.

Joanne is a first-generation Irish American whose father, Michael F. Maguire, was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal.

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Profiles

Jim McCann

Anne McCarthy

1-800-Flowers

Westmeath Communications

Jim McCann is a successful entrepreneur whose passion is helping others to connect with the important people in their lives. His vision and energy led to his founding of 1-800flowers.com, which has grown into the world's leading florist and gift shop. Jim’s willingness to embrace technologies that help people connect and express themselves long before others has enabled him to stay at the forefront of consumer and social trends.

Jim has become an award-winning public speaker, published author and a frequent guest on radio and television programs nationwide. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Willis Group Holdings Limited, London based, and Gruppo Lottomatica in Rome, Italy. He also works on many charitable and educational boards.

Jim is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Armagh and Limerick.

Anne McCarthy has spent more than 25 years in corporate communications, serving as both a strategist and an executor for Fortune 500 companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. She founded Westmeath Communications, a consulting firm that offers communications counsel to companies both large and small, as well as a cross section of stakeholders.Westmeath was named after the county where Anne’s maternal grandmother was born.

Anne has deep experience in corporate social responsibility, leading the Foundation at Western Union and Polaroid. She has led large image and branding campaigns at Sara Lee Corporation, IBM, DuPont and SAP. She serves on several non-profit boards, including Alliance for Choice in Education, Colorado UpLift and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. A trustee of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Anne earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and has completed executive education programs at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and at INSEAD at Fontainebleau.

David McCourt

Bill McDermott

Granahan McCourt Capital

SAP

David C. McCourt, chairman and CEO of Granahan McCourt Capital, has founded or bought 14 companies in 7 countries.

David was raised in Watertown, Massachusetts and graduated from Georgetown University. In 1982, he created his first company, McCourt Cable Systems. David also founded the Grenadian TV station, Discovery TV. David was executive producer on the series What's Going On?, which documented the impact of global conflict on children around the world. In 2005, he won an Emmy for the series Reading Rainbow and produced the show Miracle’s Boys on Nickelodeon’s teenage network, The N. Today he serves as CEO of Satellite Holdings, LLC. In 1984, President Reagan presented David with the first award from the White House recognizing accomplishments by private sector businesses. In 2004 the American-Irish Historical Society presented him with its Gold Medal. He lives with his wife and two children. David is a second-generation Irish American: his mother’s family is from Galway and his father’s is from County Tyrone.

Bill McDermott was appointed co-CEO of SAP alongside Jim Hagemann Snabe in 2010. Bill was named to the SAP Executive Board in 2008 to manage global field operations, a responsibility he maintains as co-CEO. Before joining SAP, Bill served as EVP of Worldwide Sales & Operations at Siebel Systems, and president of Gartner, Inc. He spent 17 years at Xerox and became the company’s youngest corporate officer and division president.

Bill serves on the boards of ANSYS, PAETEC Communications, Under Armour, KIPP and Villanova University. In 2008, he was named Idealist of the Year by City Year Greater Philadelphia. In 2005, Bill was elected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber Foundation Board. Bill earned an MBA degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern and completed the Executive Development Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He received his BS degree in business administration from Dowling College. Bill is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Co. Roscommon on his father’s side.

Judy McGrath

Peter McGuinness

MTV Networks

Gotham Inc.

Judy McGrath is chairman and CEO of MTV Networks, a position she has held since 2004.

She oversees the management and operation of MTV Networks’ over 160 TV channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide.

Judy has held a series of positions at MTV Networks since MTV’s launch in 1981. Before being named chairman and CEO, she was the MTV Networks group president responsible for MTV, MTV2, VH1, Country Music Television and Comedy Central. She previously held positions as copy chief of Glamour and senior writer for Mademoiselle.

Judy is on the boards of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Girl Up and the NCTA. She has been honored by the Posse Foundation,American Women in Radio & TV, the Food Bank of NYC,YouthAIDS, the Alliance for Lupus Research, and the John A. Reisenbach Foundation. In 2003, the T.J. Martell Foundation named her Humanitarian of the Year. She is in the Cable Hall of Fame and the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.

Raised in Scranton, PA, Judy lives with her husband and daughter in New York City.

68 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Peter McGuinness’ mission as chairman & CEO of Gotham is to bring leading marketers streetsmart, integrated communications without bigagency bureaucracy. Previously, Peter spent over 15 years at McCann Worldgroup in the media and account management departments. He became executive vice president & worldwide account director before turning 30. Peter led multiple pro bono efforts including the AIDS Awareness Quilt campaign. He helped pioneer Agencies In Action by committing Gotham to it first, helping NYC’s homeless. His creative honors include Effies, AMEs, CLIOs and Cannes Lions. Peter serves on the AAAA’s board, the Government Relations Committee and the AEF board. He is a member of the AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement and a David Rockefeller Fellow for the advancement of New York City. Peter and his wife recently started a philanthropic company called Do Your Part Through Art, focusing on child development through artistic expression for children in need. Peter is a second-generation Irish American whose ancestors lived in Cork and Mayo.

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Andrew McKenna

Joseph Moglia

Schwarz

TD Ameritrade

Andrew McKenna is chairman of Schwarz Supply Source, a leading provider of supply chain solutions. McKenna is also chairman of McDonald’s Corporation and serves as a director of the AON Corporation and the Chicago Bears Football Team and Skyline Corporation. Over the years, McKenna has served on many civic boards. He is a director of Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, the Big Shoulders Fund of the Archdiocese of Chicago, The Ireland Economic Advisory Board and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.A graduate of Notre Dame with a BS in business administration,Andrew was awarded the university’s Laetare Medal in 2000. He served as the chairman of the board of trustees from 1992-2000 and continues on the board today. He is also a graduate of the DePaul University Law School where he received Doctor of Jurisprudence.

A second-generation Irish American, Andrew has roots in Mayo and Monaghan. He and his wife Joan have seven grown children and 24 grandchildren.

As a football coach for 16 years, Joe Moglia won two Ivy championships as defensive coordinator at Dartmouth, set defensive and kicking records at Lafayette, wrote a book and numerous articles in national coaching journals, and has been inducted into two Sports Halls of Fame.

In the business world, both at TD Ameritrade and at Merrill Lynch, Joe has executed world-class business strategies for almost two decades. In his seven years as CEO at TD Aameritrade, shareholders enjoyed a 500% return. The firm’s market cap grew from $700 million to $10 billion and client assets from $24 billion to $280 billion.

Joe has received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and has been honored by the National Italian American Foundation, its Sports Hall of Fame, the Columbus Citizens Foundation, the American Institute for Stuttering, and is a recipient of two Honorary Doctorates. Joe is a first-generation Irish American whose mother is from Belfast. He is married with six children.

Thomas Moran

Brian Moynihan

Mutual of America

Bank of America

Thomas Moran was appointed chairman of the board in 2005 and has been president and CEO of Mutual of America since 1994.

Tom is the Chairman of Concern Worldwide (U.S.) and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Greater New York Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Educational Broadcasting System, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and the Irish Hunger Memorial in New York City. He has been given membership in the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way and Excalibur membership.Tom has won numerous awards including the Commissioner’s Award by the New York City Police Foundation, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.Tom serves on the Irish Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Board and the boards of the Irish Chamber of Commerce in the USA and the Ireland-US Council for Commerce and Industry, Inc. Tom earned a BS degree in mathematics from Manhattan College.

He traces his Irish ancestors to Fermanagh and Tipperary. He and his wife Joan reside in New York City.

Brian Moynihan is president and CEO of Bank of America. He was elected to his role by the board of directors and took office on January 1, 2010.

Brian is a member of the bank’s executive management team. He chairs Bank of America’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Council. Brian previously led several of the company’s lines of business, including Consumer and Small Business Banking, Global Corporate and Investment Banking, and Global Wealth and Investment Management. He also has served as general counsel for the company. Brian joined Bank of America in 2004 after the company’s merger with FleetBoston Financial, serving as president of Global Wealth and Investment Management. He joined Fleet in 1993 as deputy general counsel.

Brian is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He serves on the boards of directors of YouthBuild Boston and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston. A fourth-generation Irish American with roots in Cork and Kilkenny, Brian lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his wife and three children.

Alan Mulally

Bill Mullaney

Ford Motor Company

MetLife, Inc.

Alan Mulally is president and CEO of Ford Motor Co. and a member of the Board of Directors.

Before joining Ford in 2006, Alan was executive vice president of The Boeing Company, and president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Throughout his career, Alan has been recognized for his industry leadership, including being named one of The World’s Most Influential People by TIME, one of The 30 Most Respected CEOs by Barrons, Person of the Year by Aviation Week and a Best Leader by BusinessWeek. Alan serves on President Obama’s Export Council. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of England’s Royal Academy of Engineering.

A Kansas native,Alan holds BS and MS degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Kansas, and earned a master’s in management from MIT as a 1982 Alfred P. Sloan fellow.

With a surname derived from the Gaelic Ó Maolalaidh, Alan Mulally traces his roots to the western counties of Ireland and Galway in particular.

70 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

William J. Mullaney is president, U.S. Business for MetLife, Inc. Named to this position in 2009, Bill oversees all of MetLife’s insurance, retirement and corporate benefit funding businesses in the U.S. He was previously president, Institutional Business, which provided insurance and retirement benefits to employers of all sizes in the United States. He joined MetLife in 1982.

Bill serves as a member of the board of directors for MetLife Auto & Home, MetLife Europe Limited, MetLife Bank and MetLife Foundation. He also was the chairman of the New York Blood Center’s Volunteer Leadership Campaign from 2007 to 2009. He received a BA from the University of Pittsburgh, his MBA from Pace University and a chartered life underwriter designation from The American College. Bill is a first-generation Irish American whose parents hail from Roscommon and Cork. He is married with two children.

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Joseph Murphy Jr.

Kathleen Murphy Fidelity Investments

“

As an Irish Catholic, my father taught me about the sanctity of the mass, about the responsibility to work hard and the importance of leadership in the family, at your business and in your community.

”

– Brian O’Malley

Kathy Murphy is president of Fidelity Personal Investing and is responsible for Fidelity’s life insurance and annuity business, its workplace savings business for tax-exempt organizations, Fidelity’s brand and advertising programs, and online strategies. Kathy is a 25-year veteran of the financial industry.

Before joining Fidelity in 2009, she held senior executive positions at ING, where she managed divisions spanning wealth management, retirement services, employee benefits, individual products, an independent broker dealer platform and institutional capital markets. Kathy serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of America’s Promise, on the Advisory Board of the Smurfit School of Business at the University of Dublin, and the Board of Directors of the University of Connecticut Foundation. She earned a BA degree summa cum laude from Fairfield University in 1984 and a JD with highest honors from the University of Connecticut in 1987. Kathy’s father’s family is from Cork and her mother’s is from Kerry. She is a thirdgeneration Irish American and is married with one son.

Martin Naughton

Erin Mulligan Nelson

Glen Dimplex

Bazaarvoice, Inc.

Martin Naughton is the founder and chairman of the Glen Dimplex Group. He started the company in 1973 as Glen Electric, with a mere ten employees. He later acquired Dimplex, the leading brand in the UK heating market. The Glen Dimplex Group is now the world’s largest manufacturer of domestic heating appliances.

In recognition of Naughton’s longtime support of the University of Notre Dame, in both a civic and philanthropic manner, in 2006 the university paid him a high honor by renaming their Institute for Irish Studies the Keough-Naughton Institute (Donald Keough, another of our Business 100, was the original benefactor of the Institute). Martin has served on Notre Dame’s Board of Directors since 1991. He co-founded the university’s Ireland Council, and received an honorary doctor of science degree in 1998. He is exchairman of InterTradeIreland, a cross-border and business trade group, and has been extremely active in promoting peace in Ireland through economic ties. He resides in County Meath.

Erin Mulligan Nelson is the CMO of Bazaarvoice, one of the world’s leading social commerce companies. Before joining Bazaarvoice in November 2010, Erin was senior vice president and CMO for Dell Inc. Before she became Dell’s CMO in January 2009, she held leadership positions across marketing and sales in all of its business units, including spending three years in Europe (two in Dublin) as the company’s VP of marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Erin is on the board of directors of the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children and a member of the University of Texas McCombs Business School Advisory Council. She was inducted in 2010 to the American Advertising Federation’s Lifetime Hall of Achievement. Erin earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.A second-generation Irish American, Erin has roots in Kerry and Mayo. She and her husband Steve raised their sons Connor and Patrick in Ireland for two years while living in Blackrock and Enniskerry.

Dermot O’Brien

Kathy O’Brien

TIAA-CREF

Unilever

Dermot J. O’Brien is executive vice president of human resources at TIAA-CREF, a financial services firm, and a member of its executive management team. Dermot joined TIAA-CREF in 2003 and oversees companywide human-resource strategy and execution for the company’s 7,000 employees. He has over 20 years’ experience in financial services. Before joining TIAACREF, he held senior positions at Merrill Lynch & Co. He began his financial services career at Morgan Stanley.

Dermot is a member of the Human Resource-50 Group and the Personnel Round Table. In 2010, he was invited to join the CT Partners Annual Board of Directors Institute on Human Resources. He has volunteered with Junior Achievement for several years.

A native of Dublin, Dermot holds an undergraduate degree in finance from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University, where he is a frequent guest lecturer. He is the son of the late Dermot O’Brien, 1957 All-Ireland GAA captain for County Louth and well-known Irish entertainer.

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Kathy O’Brien is Unilever’s vice president for personal care in the United States. During her time at Unilever, Kathy has worked in customer development, marketing and shopper marketing.

Prior to assuming her current role, Kathy was the marketing director for Dove, where she led programs that helped Dove achieve its goal of reaching 5 million girls with self-esteem programming. Dove is the leading personal wash brand in the United States.

Previously she was the North American brand development director for all® detergent. During the three years in this critical role, she helped lead the brand to #2 in the detergent category.

Kathy holds an undergraduate degree from Boston College and an MBA from Columbia University in New York City. She resides in Rowayton, CT, and is a second-generation Irish American. Her father’s family is from counties Mayo and Cork.

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Profiles BUSINESS100 Emmett O’Connell

Eoin O’Connell

Great Western Mining Co.

Kerry Ingredients & Flavors

Emmett O’Connell is chairman of the Great Western Mining Corporation, a mineral exploration company based in Nevada with headquarters in Dublin.

A promoter of technology and exploration companies for over thirty years, Emmett has acted as founder and director of other companies including Eglington Exploration plc., Osceola Hydrocarbons and Bryson Oil and Gas plc.

Emmett’s career has taken him to many countries on five continents. He has been involved with highly successful public companies quoted on the London, Dublin and Vancouver Stock Exchanges. In April 2008 the London PLUS market awarded Great Western Mining Corp. the best resource stock award for the continued investing and expansion of the company’s North American mineral resources.

He was inducted as a Knight of St. Gregory in the Vatican in 1986.

When not in some distant part of the world, Emmett lives on a farm in Wexford with his wife of 48 years. He has three children and six grandchildren.

Over his 23 years at Kerry Group, Eoin O’Connell has risen from a member of the accounting department to president of the dairy & culinary business for Kerry Ingredients & Flavours – Americas Region. Eoin joined Kerry in 1986 as a graduate from the University of Limerick, as accountant for Kerry Foods, a division of Kerry Group.

In 1990, Eoin transferred to the Americas region where he served in several leadership roles within Kerry’s ingredients division. In 2000, Eoin relocated to Canada where he served as president of Kerry Canada until his appointment to president of Kerry’s dairy business unit in 2003.

The son of Joe and Breege O’ Connell, Eoin was raised in Corofin, Co. Clare. Eoin resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife Nicole, and their two daughters, Aoife and Ayla. He travels to Ireland regularly for business and on family vacations to see his mother, and his siblings Joe,Therese and Maura.

John O’Loughlin

Brian O’Malley

LA Times Media Group

Domino Foods, Inc.

John T. O’Loughlin was named executive vice president, advertising and chief revenue officer of the Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) in 2009. He joined The Times as senior vice president, marketing, planning and development in 2005, becoming executive vice president, targeted media and CMO in 2008 with responsibility for the growing family of products and services targeted at specific audience segments. Prior to his Times tenure, John served as general manager of the Chicago Tribune's RedEye edition since its inception and launch in 2002.

From 2001 to 2002, John served as director, strategic marketing for Chicago Tribune Company. He joined the Chicago Tribune in 1990.

John received his BA degree in American studies (marketing and communication) from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. A member of the IAH, he is a secondgeneration Irish American with roots in Co. Clare on his father’s side and Co. Cork on his mother’s.

Brian O’Malley was appointed president and CEO of Domino Foods, Inc in 2001. His career in the sugar industry started in 1982 when he joined the accounting department of Amstar Corporation, the former parent company of Domino Sugar.

Brian holds an undergraduate degree in finance from Glassboro State College and an MBA in finance from Rutgers University. He is vice chairman of the Advisory Council to the Grocery Manufacturers Association and was president of the International Sugar Club for 2008. He resides in Middletown, NJ with his wife Maureen and their three children, Erin, Michael and Kevin.

Brian is a first-generation Irish American. His father's family hails from Knocknahila and Clare, and his mother’s family has roots in Waterford and Galway. Brian says, “As an Irish Catholic, my father taught me about the sanctity of the mass, about the responsibility to work hard and the importance of leadership in the family, at your business and in your community.”

Sean O’Sullivan

James Quinn

Universal McCann

Tiffany & Co.

With 14 years experience at Universal McCann, Sean O’Sullivan has risen through the ranks to his current position as SVP group media director.

After leading the winning team at a young advertising professionals training conference in London during the summer of 1999, Sean joined the international planning department in New York in March of 2000 where he worked on global strategic planning for CPG clients and Pan Regional specific clients. In 2003 he started to add direct responsibilities for the U.S. A graduate of the University of Limerick and the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland, Sean is a member of the UM Charity Council which supports Free the Children. Sean, whose parents both came from Effin, Co. Limerick, was born in Bronx, New York but grew up in Killaloe, Co. Clare. He is a member of the Shannon Development North American advisory council, and used to play hurling for Clare on a team in New York. He believes that “being Irish instills in a person a belief that with hard work and perseverance any challenge can be overcome.”

James Quinn has been president of Tiffany & Co. since 2003. As president, Jim oversees Tiffany business in over 50 countries and is responsible for its global expansion, including the development of the Tiffany business in key markets in Asia and Europe. He began his career with the internationally renowned jeweler in 1986.

Jim serves on the board of Mutual of America Capital Management. He is chairman of New York’s 5th Ave. Association, vice chairman and trustee of the Museum of the City of New York, was former chairman and serves on the North American advisory board of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College Dublin and is a member of An Taoiseach’s economic advisory board. A graduate of Hofstra University, Jim received his MBA from Pace University. He is married to Diane and has two children. Jim traces his Irish roots to Offaly and Westmeath on his father’s side, and Kerry on his mother’s side. All four of his grandparents were from Ireland.

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Maura Regan

Edward Reilly

Sesame Workshop

AMA

Maura Regan serves as senior vice president and general manager, global consumer products for Sesame Workshop. Her division funds the nonprofit work of the organization which is dedicated to helping kids reach their highest potential.

Before being promoted to SVP, Maura served as vice president and general manager, global consumer products. Prior to that, she served as vice president, international licensing and new business development, responsible for the international product licensing business.

Before joining the Workshop in 1999, Maura was director, international licensing, at Scholastic Entertainment and director, international licensing, at MTV Networks.

Maura is a fellow of the U.S. Japan Foundation Leadership program and earned a BA in art history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is a fourth-generation Irish American with roots in Galway and Donegal. She says her Irish heritage “has instilled in me a sense of knowing when to persevere and when to celebrate.”

Maura and her husband have a daughter.

Edward T. Reilly has been the 17th president and CEO of the American Management Association, International since 2001. AMA is the world’s leading not-for-profit, membership-based management development, research and publishing organization. Ed previously served as president and CEO of Big Flower Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of integrated marketing and advertising services. Prior to that, Ed spent nearly 30 years with the broadcast and book publishing groups of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Ed holds a BA in business administration from St. Francis College and attended the Stanford Executive Program. He is chairman of the USO World Headquarters Board of Governors, a member of the North American Advisory Board of the UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business in Dublin, and a fellow and former Chairman of the Royal Society for the Arts in the U.S.A fourth-generation Irish American, he resides in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife, Susan. Ed has roots in Cavan on his father’s side and Limerick on his mother’s.

Brian Ruane

Timothy Ryan

Bank of New York Mellon

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Brian Ruane became CEO of BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services in 2009. He was formerly head of Global Client Management North America, and before that was global head of Financial Institutions. Brian is a member of The Board of Directors and Risk Committee of Pershing LLC, the Global Operating Committee of BNY Mellon, and BNY Mellon’s Sovereign Wealth Advisory Committee. In 2003, he was co-opted onto The Federal Reserve Bank of NY’s Working Committee on The Future of The U.S. Government Securities Markets. He is a member of The Advisory Board of The UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business in Dublin and The Frank G. Zarb School of Business.

Brian graduated from The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and earned his MBA in international banking and finance from The Zarb School of Business.

Brian’s father is from Crossmolina, Co. Mayo and his mother from Drumhaldry, Co. Longford. Brian and his wife Anna Lynch, who is from Dublin, live in New York with their four children.

Tim Ryan is the leader of PwC’s Assurance Practice, with full responsibility for all aspects of PwC’s Assurance business. Tim has over 20 years of experience serving clients in the financial services industry in the U.S. and internationally.

Prior to his current role,Tim led PwC’s U.S. Financial Services practice and has also led PwC’s Consumer Finance Group. He has been published or quoted in numerous publications and is a frequent contributor to industry events. Tim has served on the U.S. Board of Partners and Principals and the Board’s Admissions Committee, the Management Evaluation and Compensation Committee, and the Clients Committee. Tim has also served on the firm’s Global Board of Directors.

Tim is a CPA in Massachusetts and New York and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He graduated from Babson College where he studied accounting and communications. A Boston native, he joined PwC after graduation and currently resides in the area with his wife and six children.

William Ryan

Kenneth Sharkey

TD Bank

PricewaterhouseCoopers

William J. Ryan is retired as chairman of the board of TD Bank, N.A. He has served as a board member of TD Bank Financial Group, group head, U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking, vice chair of TD Bank Financial Group, and president and CEO of TD Banknorth Inc. He oversaw the growth of the bank from a $2 billion regional bank to a $45 billion U.S. franchise, as a result of 29 bank acquisitions. In 2005,TD was recognized by Forbes as the best-managed bank in America.

William is a director of WellPoint, Inc. and Unum, serves as a trustee of the Libra Foundation and is Chairman of the U.S. Biathlon Foundation. He is on the Board of Advisors at the University of New England, Emeriti Trustee of Colby College.

William is a graduate of St. Francis College in New York and the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University.

He and his wife, Peg, have four children and make their homes in Marco Island, Florida and Falmouth, Maine. He is a second-generation Irish American.

74 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Ken Sharkey is the U.S. leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ entertainment media and communications practice. He joined the firm in 1985 and was admitted to the partnership in 1996. He spent three years in the firm’s National Accounting & SEC office. Ken was also seconded to the Prague, Czech Republic office for three years to develop the information & telecommunications practice in the region.While there, he was a member of the Czech Republic chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Ken is an honorary board member of the New Jersey Technology Council and a member of the Morris Business Cabinet. He is on the boards of both NJN and the Morris County Chamber of Commerce.

He is a member of the New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida Societies of CPAs, and the American Institute of CPAs. He serves as partner advocate on the firm’s African & Latin American diversity committee. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Ken attended the University of Delaware. He is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Cork.

Ken and his wife Kathleen have a daughter, Elizabeth.

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Tim Sheehan

Margaret Smyth

Best Buy

Hamilton Sundstrand

As chief administrative officer for Best Buy Co., Inc.,Tim Sheehan oversees the operations team that supports the portfolio of Best Buy stores around the world.

Tim started with Best Buy in 1985 as a parttime sales associate when the company operated just a handful of stores. He spent time as a store general manager, led a team of stores as the district manager and eventually became a regional manager. Tim was then recruited to help develop a retail support function at the corporate office. He began his work at Best Buy’s corporate headquarters as operations director and has held a multitude of positions in retail operations, consumer relations and store support. Prior to hic current position, Tim served as senior vice president, customer experience creation, and then executive vice president of Enterprise Retail Operations.

A native of Minneapolis, Tim has a bachelor’s degree from the University of St.Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Margaret Smyth is vice president, finance and CFO at Hamilton Sundstrand. Prior to her current position, Peggy was VP and controller for United Technologies Corp. Previously, she served as vice president and CAO of 3M and as a senior partner at Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen.

She earned her master’s degree in accounting from NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business and her undergraduate degree in economics from Fordham, graduating summa cum laude from both. She is an alumna of the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellows Program.

Peggy is a director for Concern Worldwide and Fordham and a member of the International Accounting Standards Board Interpretations Committee, Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network and Business Executives for National Security. She is on the Board of Directors of Mutual of America Investment Corporation.

Peggy, who resides in West Hartford, Conn., with her husband and two sons, has a second home in Co. Roscommon, Ireland and maintains dual citizenship.

Brian Stack

Ted Sullivan

CIE Tours International

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Brian W. Stack is managing director of CIE Tours International, one of the largest producers of tourists to Ireland, Scotland, and many other areas of Europe.

Prior to joining CIE Tours International, Brian worked with Aer Lingus, The Irish Tourist Board, and Ocean Reef Club in Florida.

Brian has served as chairman of the United States Tour Operators Association, was president of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives, was a board member of the Irish American Cultural Institute and is currently vice president of the Ireland-U.S. Council for Commerce and Industry. His awards include “Man of the Year” from the Incentive Travel Industry and “International Executive of the Year” by the World Congress on Marketing and Incentive Travel.

A resident of Rye, New York, Brian is married to Anne-Marie and has two grown children. He is a Dublin native.

Ted M. Sullivan serves as the client relationship executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP within the entertainment, media and communications practice. With more than 18 years experience focusing on strategy and operational consulting, he is responsible for servicing Fortune 500 multinational clients within the industry.

Ted traces his mother’s ancestors to Co.Tyrone, and his father’s to Co. Cork. He is a founding member of the Metro Atlanta Police Emerald Society and has served as the Georgia president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He has served twice as parade chairman of the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Parade and was the parade’s honorary Grand Marshal in 2005. Ted visits Ireland every year to reconnect with friends in Navan, Cork, and the North of Ireland, where he has participated in various political forums. He holds a BS in finance from Troy State University. He and his wife Sara reside in Atlanta with their daughter Mary Lois.

Anne Sweeney

John Tynan

Disney Media Networks

TynanGroup, Inc.

As co-chairman of Media Networks, The Walt Disney Co., and president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Anne Sweeney has risen through the ranks of television and was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune and one of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes.Anne is a recipient of the Cable Television Public Affairs Association’s President’s Award, the Golden Mike Award for Outstanding Contributions to Broadcasting by the Broadcasters Foundation of America, and the Matrix Award for television from New York Women in Communications, Inc. Anne, who earned a BA from the College of New Rochelle and an EdM from Harvard, traces her roots to Meath, Kerry and Mayo.

Anne was elected director of the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2001. In 2007, she was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame, and also received the Committee of 200’s Luminary Award.Anne and her husband, Phillip Miller, live with their two children in Los Angeles.

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John P. Tynan is the president and founder of TynanGroup, Inc., a Santa Barbara-based holding company for multiple business ventures.

These include Medbridge Development Inc.,Tg Hospitality, AnchorPoint and numerous real estate partnerships.

Prior to founding TynanGroup in 1991, he spent nearly a decade managing the construction of luxury resort and hotel projects for Hyatt Development Corporation as Vice President of Planning and Construction.

John holds a BS in civil engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA in finance from DePaul University. He currently serves on the University of Notre Dame’s Ireland Advisory Council.

John is a third-generation Irish American with roots in Clare, Mayo and Cork. He says that his Irish heritage “links me to my family and the past while at the same time giving meaning to the present and future by inspiring me to help people who struggle.”

John is married with two children.

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Boxing Buddies The unlikely friendship between prizefighter Gene Tunney and dramatist George Bernard Shaw is explored in a new book by the boxer’s son, Jay Tunney.

By Sheila Langan here are many books about famous literary friendships. John Keats, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley have more than a few dedicated to them, as do Edith Wharton and Henry James; Earnest Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. While these relationships are certainly interesting to dedicated readers and valuable for scholars, the bonds between writers and their non-writer friends can be even more compelling because of their unexpected nature and their basis in something outside of literary pursuits. For instance, T.S. Eliot and Groucho Marx exchanged letters for years; Mark Twain was a close friend of the Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers. As the recently published The Prizefighter and the Playwright explores, such a friendship existed between the great Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw and Gene Tunney, the two-time World Heavyweight Champion.

T

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“The things that brought them together were boxing, a love of literature…and a few negative comments,” the author Jay Tunney explained during our conversation in his Manhattan pied-à-terre.

Jay, the third son of Gene Tunney and Polly Lauder Tunney, had wanted to write a book about his father for quite some time, but struggled to figure out an angle from which he could approach the story. After many years working on a successful entrepreneurial venture in South Korea, where he introduced premium ice cream to the market, Jay sold his company and returned to the United States. It was then that he approached his mother with the idea of a book about Tunney, who had passed away in 1978.

“I was ready to do something else, to do a book about Dad, but Mother was absolutely the most private person who ever walked the face of the earth and didn’t really want that,” Jay recalled. She was, it turns out, very justified in her fear of the public eye: during his boxing career Tunney was the target of much ridicule and skepticism from the press because of his literary interests – considered

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FAR LEFT: Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey during the 1927 “long count” fight.

LEFT: Tunney and Shaw.

rare for a pugilist – and the Tunneys had been excessively stalked by reporters around the time of their marriage, after word got out that the heavyweight champion was engaged to an heiress from Connecticut.

But mother and son eventually reached a compromise. “In the meantime, there were other biographers who wanted to come in and do [official] biographies of Dad, but Mother especially didn’t want that.” Luckily, a family friend suggested Jay focus on Tunney and Shaw. As Jay remembers it, “the former U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Frank Fosberg, who was a great friend of my father’s, suggested I write about Shaw; he thought it would be a wonderful story. I thought it was a great idea, I checked that with Mother, and she was very happy…She thought that a book about Shaw and Dad’s friendship was the solution.”

Next came the research. About twelve years ago, Jay began interviewing his mother, who, as he discusses in the book, proved to be a valuable but complicated source of information. “Our mother wanted the story of their friendship shared because she knew how much our father valued Shaw’s friendship…” he writes in the epilogue. But, he adds “to our mother, everything was personal.” He fondly describes how she was, at times, forthcoming with information, even giving her first and only broadcast interview for a BBC Radio 4 program Jay co-wrote in 2000. At other times she wanted to call off the project, but still played a vital role in Jay’s writing until her death in 2008, twelve days before her 101st birthday.

For further information, Jay began going through the many letters between Tunney and Shaw. He conducted extensive interviews with his siblings, other relatives, and any friends of his parents and the Shaws who were still alive. He compiled photographs of Tunney at significant points throughout his life and career, and rare images of Tunney and Shaw together – many of which are

reproduced in the book. He sought out various resources on each of the men and immersed himself, as he put it, “in a crash course on Shaw.”

This was a real learning process for Jay. As a child, he recalled, he knew of Shaw on three peripheral levels: as the man in one of the two John Lavery portraits that hung in the family’s living room, as the torso captured by a Jo Davidson bust a few feet away from the painting, and as the driving force behind the lack of bacon in their household.

(Shaw, a vegetarian, was responsible for putting Tunney in touch with Curtis Freshel, the man who would become Tunney’s business partner in marketing Bakon Yeast, a powdered bacon substitute). But that was about it. It wasn’t until Jay was older that he began to understand who Shaw was and the effect he had on his father, and it wasn’t until Jay began his research that he came to realize just how great that effect had been. A love of words and literature, for example: they had always been there, but Jay’s work makes it clear that Tunney’s relationship with Shaw augmented these interests, turned them into real points of developed knowledge and pride. This was dedicated work, and from it all emerges a much broader picture of the prizefighter, the playwright, and their surprisingly deep friendship.

Life Imitating Art As Jay explains in his writing, the connections between the two men started before they knew each other – before Tunney was even born.

In 1882 Shaw wrote his fourth novel, Cashel Byron’s Profession. The book, the most nearly successful of his five unsuccessful novels, details the life of Cashel Byron, an unlikely boxing champion. Cashel, a restless Irish youth without much of a future, leaves school and paves his own way to success.

His smart, clean, and to-the-point fighting skills eventually earn him two consecutive world championship titles, but he then makes the unexpected move of retiring in order to pursue Lydia Carew, a beautiful heiress. The two marry and have four children, and Cashel finds success outside of the ring as well.

The book is not, by any means, one of Shaw’s most popular or provocative works. It was written very early in his career, only a few years after he had moved to London. He was still dependent on his family for support, as he spent his days reading and writing, and his nights socializing with the London intelligentsia. He was still in the process of turning himself into a writer, thinker, socialist and wit – still becoming George Bernard Shaw as we think of him today.

Nevertheless, Cashel Byron is an important piece. It complicates our understanding of Shaw by highlighting his little known love and knowledge of boxing; it has at its crux the idea of social transformation that is so central to many of his later works. In DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 79

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addition, the novel holds great significance as the impetus for one of Shaw’s most meaningful but seldom discussed friendships.

About thirty years after Shaw wrote Cashel Byron, the life of James Joseph Tunney, a poor Irish Catholic kid from the Lower West Side of Manhattan, began imitating art. Like Shaw’s Cashel, Tunney never finished at his Christian Brothers school: he had to leave at fifteen to help support his family. Gene, as everyone called him, began learning how to fight from the local boxing legends like Willy Green, and further honed his skills in the ring during his time as a Marine in World War I. He developed an intelligent, “scientific” fighting style that served him well, was fair to his opponents, but sometimes earned him scorn from the press – Tunney went for the win, not the kill. At the end of an impressive career of professional fighting, in which he lost only one match (to Harry Greb), the “Fighting Marine” went on to reign as the World Heavyweight Champion from 1926-1928. Two weeks after his second championship win in the memorable “long count” fight against Jack Dempsey, Tunney permanently left boxing following his engagement to Mary “Polly” Lauder.

They went on to have four children and, after the Second World War, Tunney found further success as a businessman.

In the midst of all these striking coincidences, as Tunney unwittingly lived out elements of the fictional life Shaw had created for Cashel, the two men became close friends.

But, as Jay recounted during our discussion and relates further in his book, Tunney and Shaw got off to a bad start. In hopes of securing himself a post-boxing career as an actor, Tunney approached the producer Lawrence Langner in 1926 about the possibility of starring in a stage version of Cashel Byron’s Profession.

Langner posed the idea to Shaw, who gave various noncommittal answers before rejecting the offer. Hurt, Tunney took a verbal swipe at Shaw while in conversation with a reporter, making negative comments about the novel.

80 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

ABOVE: Gene Tunney reading.

LEFT: Jay Tunney, the author.

Fortunately, as Jay told me with amusement, the playwright was not offended by the boxer’s remarks. In fact, they had quite the opposite effect: “Shaw said, ‘my God that young man must have some taste, I’d love to meet him.’ And that got back to Dad.” They didn’t actually meet until a few years later, in 1928, when the Tunneys were honeymooning after their wedding in Rome. As Tunney traveled throughout Europe trying to escape the press, Shaw repeatedly tried to contact him but kept missing him by little more than a day.

Finally, when the couple arrived in London in December, Shaw and his wife Charlotte (also an heiress) invited them to a luncheon at their apartment in Whitehall Court.

The lunch, which Jay re-creates in detail from his mother’s perspective, marked the beginning of a long friendship between the Tunneys and the Shaws. Each couple developed a great appreciation for the other, and Tunney and Shaw began to realize how much they actually had in common: G.B.S, as he insisted his friends call him, shared Gene’s love of boxing, and Tunney showed his deep interest in literature. A few months later, in April of 1929, the two couples reunited for a month-long stay on Bironi, a small island in the Adriatic Sea. This stay makes up the heart of Jay’s book. While some chapters span a few years, Jay devotes the better part of five chapters to the month in Bironi. As we come to learn, Cashel Byron’s Profession

was far from the only thing that connected the prizefighter and the playwright.

From their time in Bironi on, after their many talks and a dramatic period with Polly’s health that solidified the bond between the Tunneys and the Shaws, the two men were also very good friends who communicated on spiritual and intellectual levels. The fact that Shaw’s novel more or less foreshadowed Tunney’s career was merely one of the many coincidences and points of interest that drew the two men together. Time slows down as Jay carefully describes the long daily walks Tunney and Shaw took together and the lasting effect their talks had on both men, on Tunney in particular. Shaw, Jay remarked, “was a great outdoor teacher. That was how their relationship worked: Shaw was the teacher and Dad the pupil.”

The Bookish Boxer In America Tunney had been told that his profession as a boxer and his love of reading and intense personal discipline were incongruous and strange. The idea of a boxer who read a lot and led a principled, highly ascetic lifestyle did not sit well with many boxing fans and sportswriters. Opinions, Jay told me, were divided: some people thought it was all an act, they didn’t believe that Tunney actually spent his spare time reading rather than, as Jay put it, “having a few beers at night and running around with the girls at the training camps.” Others balked at the idea of a boxer with his nose stuck in a book and were put off by the extent to which Tunney kept to himself.

“Reporters would say ‘how can he be a

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bigger lover of books than we are? We’re the wordsmiths, who does he think he is?’” Jay added, “Dad really didn’t understand that part. He could probably have been more empathetic, but he just didn’t.”

In Europe with G.B.S., however, it seems that the bookish boxer was able to reconcile these two parts of himself and to further his learning. Both men were more or less autodidacts, and Tunney had much to learn from the playwright who was forty years his senior. He came to, as Jay aptly phrased it, “build his intellect like he had built his muscles. He knew that both were buildable things.” According to Jay’s account, they talked about everything from the theories of the 18th-century French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, to the music of Richard Strauss; every- ABOVE: Tunneys one from Ibsen to H.G. Wells. The moral, very principled. His whole in the late “Shaw was a real spiritual and 1920s. approach to life was from that intellectual father to Dad; his angle.” We see Tunney as a boy, sitown father never really made the grade. ting at the kitchen table at night, lining up Dad thought Shaw was a saint.” one hundred matches, end to tip, and then The versions of George Bernard Shaw reversing them — all to teach himself and Gene Tunney that we see in The patience and discipline. We see him in his Prizefighter and the Playwright are twenties as a dedicated boxer genuinely departures from the way history rememconfused by the public’s reaction. We see bers each of the men. People considered him, older, as a dear friend, visiting Shaw Shaw to be “kind of a didactic guy, somefor the last time at Ayot St. Lawrence, his one who talked down,” Jay said. They house in England, before the playwright’s had a hard time separating the writer from death in 1950. We see him, later, as a his works. Through talking with his father, quizzing his children on mother, however, Jay came to realize that Shakespeare and encouraging them to the Shaw his parents knew was very difkeep journals of word definitions – just as ferent. “It was through her that I came to Tunney did throughout his life. find that Shaw was actually full of affecIn this sense, there does seem to have tion… He had a wonderful, devilish, Irish been a corrective effort behind the book, sense of humor that people often ignore. an attempt to set the record straight, Dad did too, that’s probably part of why though it does not necessarily come at the they got along so well.” Jay also presents expense of objectivity. Jay admitted that a more complicated rendering of Shaw’s it was initially hard to be his father’s narself-proclaimed atheism, exploring the rator: “The experience was awkward at spiritual discussions G.B.S. frequently times. I had to watch my subjectivity.” had with his younger, more devout friend.

But he ultimately found that “it had a lot This difference in belief is not portrayed to do with voice. Referring to Dad as as an issue of contention, but as some‘Gene Tunney,’ referring to him in an thing from which both men learned a lot. objective way, allowed me to see him in a Taking readers beyond the bad press more objective way.” Indeed, Jay’s porhis father once received, Jay shows trayal of his father comes across as Tunney to have been a complex and highextremely considered, realistic, and fair. ly admirable man. “Dad had a lot of charThat a kid who grew up in a cold water acter, always did. He had a strong Irish flat in the West Village and left school Catholic upbringing and he was very at fifteen to work in a butcher’s shop 82 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

would grow up to be a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, husband of a smart and beautiful heiress, and close friend to George Bernard Shaw, is nothing short of amazing. But that very trip down an unlikely path to success is actually the heart of Jay’s book and was, possibly, the cornerstone of the bond between Tunney and Shaw.

As Jay put it, “Shaw was drawn to Dad because he just loved supermen. He loved winners, and Dad was a champion.

He transformed himself, he literally transformed himself.” This is key in Shaw’s works too, in characters from Cashel Byron to the flower girl Eliza Doolittle.

Thanks to Professor Henry Higgins’ lessons in elocution, Eliza goes from having a thick cockney accent to possessing the manner of royalty — but that isn’t really the important part. Eliza turnss herself into an independent being, one who, in the end, doesn’t need Higgins. As Jay elaborated, “The biggest idea in all of this is reinvention of oneself.

You’re going to need your Higgins but you’re also going to have to do it yourself. And Eliza did do it herself.”

He also sees the idea of reinvention as being central in Shaw’s life: “Shaw was the image of self-reinvention, of re-creation. Little timid Shaw arrived in England at the age of twenty. One of the first things he did was write five novels, all of them unsuccessful, but he kept going.” To keep going was no easy task, but it’s something that, significantly, Tunney, Shaw, and many of Shaw’s best characters were able to do. “It’s easy,” Jay added, “for us to be romantic about it, but it really was that way. We’re mostly given the freedom to make things out of ourselves, do something different than what our father or grandfather did, but it wasn’t like that then. Dad broke out of that European trap, so did Shaw.”

At the end of our conversation, Jay concluded, “It really is all about transforming yourself.” Then, with an ease that would have made both Shaw and his father proud, Jay quoted the serpent’s great line from Shaw’s play Back to Methuselah: “You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never IA were; and I say ‘Why not?”

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DUBLIN’S FAIR T

his is not just a case of an American city with a European moniker. In Dublin, Ohio just outside of Columbus, residents live on Innisfree Lane and Phoenix Park Drive, play links-style golf at the Golf Club of Dublin and root for the Shamrocks, Irish, and Celtics – all local high school teams. They frequent the Shoppes of Athenry and relax in Balgriffin and Trinity parks. The Dublin Community Recreation Center offers classes in Irish Dancing and named its theater after the famed Abbey in Ireland. Fire hydrants are painted green and the shamrock adorns everything from city signs to local business advertisements. The city has embraced the Irish culture for the fun and uniqueness of it … yet the care and attention paid to these Irish touches are indicative of the careful planning and attention to detail that has enabled Dublin to go from a small farming village of just under 700 in 1970 to a city of over 40,000 today without losing its close-knit community feel – or its continuing homage to all things Irish.

THE RARE OULD TIMES First inhabited by Native Americans, then 84 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

settled by the Sells family in 1810, the limestone-rich land along the Scioto River began as a strong farming community named for land surveyor John Shields’s hometown in Ireland. The village developed slowly at first, but carefully. Wood and stone collected from cleared forests and fields were used to build homes, bridges, and stone walls that still survive.

Some of the names of the original families – Sells, Karrer, Coffman, and Pinney – can still be found in the phone book as well as on streets and schools named in their honor.

In the mid 1970s, life for this small village began to change rapidly after a trinity of events which deputy city planner Dana McDaniel says “set the standards for quality early on.” Construction of Interstate 270, the ‘outer belt’ around Columbus, drew more of the city population to the surrounding suburbs. It also brought the headquarters of Ashland Chemical, which in turn convinced Ohio to add an I-270 Interchange in Dublin. Ashland was the first corporate headquarters to locate in Dublin, followed by Wendy’s, the OCLC (Online Community Library Center), and later, Cardinal Health.

Around this time, world-renowned championship golfer and Columbus native Jack Nicklaus chose Dublin as the future site of a world-class golf course and tournament on par with Augusta National, site of the Masters. Nicklaus named the course Muirfield Village Golf Club, after Muirfield in Scotland, the site of Nicklaus’s first British Open title. The course is home to Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament, and will host the President’s Cup in 2013. The quality of the course attracted residents to the Muirfield Village subdivision, which broke ground in 1974.

As the town grew, the Irish touches took on a life of their own … the original limestone walls were continued throughout the town. Developers adopted Irish place names for subdivisions like Waterford Village and Donegal Cliffs. The shamrock, the popular symbol of Dublin for years, was officially adopted in 1973. Ten years later, Ha’Penny Bridge Irish Imports opened its doors in Dublin.

While there was no directive from the town to incorporate Irish culture, according to community planner Sandra Puskarcik, “it was easy for Dublin, Ohio, to align with Dublin, Ireland. There is

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Far left: Bridge Street, Dublin, Ohio. Left: A cottage ruin.

Below: Street signs in Dublin point to roads named after their Irish counterparts.

CITY

Cycle along the outer streets of Dublin and farmland and grassy fields are still visible beyond rambling stone walls; drive through the round-abouts into the city and catch a show at the Abbey Theater; end your evening in a snug at the Brazenhead, pint in one hand, and in the other, tickets to the OSU game? Well, you are in Dublin – Ohio, that is.

By Kristin Cotter McGowan

such a richness and diversity in the Irish culture that you can apply it in a respectful way to the fabric of the community.

Some of those things were here naturally – like the stone walls – and some we had to learn and continue with.”

TWENTY YEARS A’GROWIN’ With expanding boundaries and population, Dublin, Ohio officially became a city in 1987, and celebrated its first anniversary the same year that Dublin, Ireland was celebrating its millennium. To mark the occasions, the 1/1000 Committee was formed and hosted a year of Irish celebrations including performances by actors from the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland and musical legends the Chieftains, in their first Central Ohio appearance.

The year-long celebration was the impetus for creating the Dublin Irish Celebration, a group of about ten people with strong connections to Ireland. When the Columbus Feis moved to Dublin in 1988, the beginnings of the group put together some entertainment to keep attendees busy between the dancing. That first year “there was a hay wagon, a keg of beer, and an Irish band,” says Tom

Murnane, a member of the Dublin Irish Celebration. The next year the founding group worked with the City of Dublin to keep the festival Irish. The Dublin Irish Celebration continues to be a resource for the city. “We rely upon this core group of people to keep us focused on that which is real and cultural. We’ve had some luck along the way, but it’s like this (now) by design,” says Puskarcik.

These days, the Dublin Irish Festival draws over 100,000 visitors to the threeday experience, where every conceivable Irish element can be seen, heard, tasted, and touched. Children flock to the Wee Folk area to play, make crafts, and compete in contests including ‘Reddest Hair’ and ‘Most Freckles.’ Adults can participate in the whisky tasting and enjoy pints of Dublin Irish Festival Stout – a specialty brew created exclusively for the festival. Those who wander the 29 acres are treated to craft workshops, food, shops, and endless entertainment. Music is heard at every turn; Tommy Sands, Moya Brennan, Solas, and Lunasa were highlights this year, as well as returning favorite Gaelic Storm. New to the festival were master fiddler Natalie MacMaster

and Girsa, an all-female group combining traditional Irish tunes with modern favorites. The Saw Doctors closed the festival Sunday night – a rousing finish to a long weekend packed with step dancing, hurling matches, bagpipers, Celtic canines, and re-enactors.

Dublin gets a jump on the festivities Thursday evening with a 5K run and Pub Crawl in the city’s Historic District, with extended shop hours and live music.

Classes in Irish language and instruction in bodhran, fiddle, flute, and uillean pipes are offered at area hotels for locals and visitors alike.

“We start planning the festival in February and are constantly scrutinizing the entertainment, vendors, etc. Other festivals have come to us to find out how we do things,” says Murnane. The festival has consistently been named a top 100 event in North America by the American Bus Association and last year alone received ten awards from the International Festival and Events Association.

Building on the popularity of the Irish culture with residents as well as visitors, the city continues to embrace its Irish connections. The two newest high schools DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 85

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kept alive the tradition set by the Dublin Coffman High School ‘Shamrocks’ by naming themselves the ‘Irish’ and the ‘Celtics.’ Outside the entrance to Dublin’s links course is a replica of an Irish stone cottage ruin. Historic Dublin establishments like the Dublin Village Tavern have included Irish fare on their menus, while the Brazenhead, also the name of the oldest pub in Dublin, Ireland, took it several steps further. Opened in 1997, this authentic Irish pub was designed by an Irish architect and built by Irish carpenters.

They included ‘snugs’ – cozy private rooms with fireplaces, decorated with accessories from Ireland. The bar itself was brought in pieces from Ireland and assembled by an Irish crew.

St. Brigid of Kildare, the Catholic parish in Dublin, was founded in 1987. St. Brigid, or ‘Mary of the Gael’ as she was known to the Irish, was a fitting choice considering Dublin’s city traditions. The church was completed in 1991 and modeled after the 13th-century Church of Ireland Cathedral in Kildare, Ireland. The Altar of Sacrifice contains stone from St. Brigid of Kildare Cathedral in Ireland, and the reliquary contains relics of St. Brigid.

The pulpit is an Irish lawyer’s desk from the 1800s, with four Book of Kellsinspired painted panels on the front depicting the four Gospel writers.

Students at the Catholic school learn the story of St. Brigid and how to make St. Brigid crosses, and are welcomed by a bagpiper on the first day of school.

IRISH IS AN ATTITUDE A few years ago, Dublin went through a branding process to figure out what the perceptions of Dublin were outside the city. Whether it was new residents or visitors, the common first thought of what to expect was ‘Irish stuff.’ According to Scott Dring, Executive Director of the Dublin Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), “The whole city has gravitated to this Irish theme. It distinguishes us from other communities in the area.”

Hotels in the city have given Irish names to their restaurants and conference rooms and changed their décor and logos to include shamrocks and plenty of green.

The Holiday Express even offers wake-up calls with a brogue. “Because it’s been so successful,” says Dring, “people continue to embrace and build upon it.” For example, Slainte Thursdays invite residents to stroll through Historic Dublin to enjoy the special offers at shops, outdoor dining, 86 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Above: The main concert hall at the Dublin Irish Festival, which draws over 100,000 visitors over three days. Left: Shamrocks adorn everything in Dublin, from city signs to business advertisements to this young native enjoying the Irish Festival.

and live music. In their efforts to give visitors a unique Irish experience, the Dublin CVB offers 20 ‘Irish Experiences’ including an afternoon with a seanchai, Gaelic language lessons, Irish dance demonstrations, and fiddle music at an Irish pub.

At its core, Dublin is still a close-knit community with their home-town pride and hospitality easy to see and feel. As Tom Murnane, a resident since 1980, says, “This community really really cares – about everything. There’s a lot of pride here. Halloween, Fourth of July, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day – it’s all a big deal. The perception of Dublin is that everything they do, they do right.”

One of Dublin’s most forward-thinking achievements has been its city-wide wi-fi network. Not only does it enhance public safety and city operations, it provides mobile internet access to the entire city, whether you’re in a public park or your own backyard. “It’s the next generation infrastructure that is necessary to support our residents and our businesses,” says deputy city planner McDaniel. “This kind of infrastructure supports the knowledgebased job, and it has certainly got us international recognition.” In 2009, Dublin was one of only two U.S. cities to be named one of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities around the world. In the year since its creation, the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center is now home to forty new businesses. “People are just

amazed at how quickly that’s taken off,” says McDaniel. “It’s a reflection of our community and our entrepreneurial spirit.” Perhaps it’s this spirit that in 2009 prompted Business Week to name Dublin the Top Small City in Ohio to start a business, and Fox Business News to name Dublin the Top Small City in the U.S. to start a business.

IF YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE IRISH… The residents of Dublin definitely feel they are lucky. Out of hundreds of cities across the country participating in a National Citizen Survey, Dublin had by far the highest rankings the National Research Center (NRC) had ever recorded. Dublin received the highest ranking in the nation as a place to live, in economic development, emergency preparedness, city services, and quality of new development, to name just a few, and ranked second highest as a place to raise children, in public schools, services for youth, and recreation centers or facilities. “We knew we had satisfied citizens, but this blew us away a bit,” says McDaniel. Forbes.com agreed, and in 2009 named Dublin one of America’s 25 Best Places to Move.

The end of 2010 marks the completion of Dublin’s bicentennial year. The past two hundred years of forward thinking, careful planning, and commitment to Irish culture have made Dublin a remarkable place. The Irish attributes that Dublin embraces – gregariousness, hospitality, ingenuity, gratitude – enable the city to stand out and ensure its success for the next two hundred years.

The spirit of Ireland is alive and well IA in Dublin.

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GLOBAL APPEAL The latest Irish invasion offers a cross section of music from traditional to pop – to everyone’s delight.

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88 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Left to right Damian, Paul, George, Keith and Ryan

s I sit down in Radio City Music Hall, I think I know exactly what I’m getting myself into. I’m here on a Friday night to see Celtic Thunder, yet another Irish musical export that has exploded in popularity across the United States. Since their formation in 2006 by creator-producer Sharon Browne and com-

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poser Phil Coulter, Celtic Thunder has released four extremely successful albums and appeared on numerous PBS specials. Like their female counterparts Celtic Woman, they seem to have particularly captivated the Irish-American audience, with their careful balance of Irish traditional songs and updated classics.

So I was legitimately surprised when I sat down in the theater next to a couple gushing about Celtic Thunder in Italian.

When I spoke with Thunder member Keith Harkin, I asked him if he thought the Irish-American connection had been particularly integral to the band’s popularity. While he can’t deny the sheer numbers – Celtic Thunder’s latest release, Celtic Thunder Christmas, is at #1 on the Billboard charts – Keith explained that Celtic Thunder appeals to everybody, regardless of Irish blood.

“Irish music is a real old music, everyone knows Irish music…no matter where you’re from there’s always an Irish bar, there’s always an Irish connection. So it’s not just about the American connection, because Irish is everywhere.”

In the age of music mass marketing, it wasn’t until after the concert that I really believed Celtic Thunder had the global appeal Keith described. While they have only toured in the U.S and Canada, Celtic Thunder’s DVD of their first show, Act One, recently went gold in Australia. Once they get done with a whopping 78 dates [this is as of early October] left on their current tour, they’ll hopefully expand touring to Australia and Asia. And it’s all because, as Keith says, Celtic Thunder is “not a one-trick pony.”

“There’s a wide variety of people who come to the show, not just people with Irish connection,” said Keith. “The music spans from the 20s to the modern selections. You’ve got Paul [Byrom] doing the Fred Astaire numbers, Damian [McGinty] doing the sort of swing, Rat Pack numbers, myself doing the 60s Beach Boys numbers, Ryan [Kelly] doing modern classics and George [Donaldson] doing 80s and 90s music, so everybody’s going to take something from it.”

The current tour features two halves to each concert, which are nearly distinct enough to be separate shows. The first,

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“Tradition,” is a collection of traditional Irish songs. Beautifully sung and wellarranged, “Tradition” acts as an introduction to each of the members’ singing styles and voices through the medium of the music with which they are most familiar. “The first half is the music that us Irish guys all grew up listening to,” said Keith. “My dad’s a musician and I grew up hearing him play a lot of those songs the same way the other boys’ par-

Irish music is a real old music, everyone knows Irish music…no matter where you’re from there’s always an Irish bar, there’s always an Irish connection.

So it’s not just about the American connection, because Irish is everywhere. ents would’ve done…In the first shows a lot of people really loved the Irish stuff so we decided to do one half completely Irish traditional.”

The second half is an impressive showcase of songs that range from operatic to classic rock and roll to modern pop hits, such as Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” Each of the men’s strengths as a singer is again brought out through the song selections. Keith explains that while they do not have final say on what they get to sing, there is discussion with the producers about what is the most fit-

ting style for each of the members.

And then there are the group numbers – though few and far between during the second half of the concert, they remind the audience of the strong dynamic and stage presence of the combined group over any one individual. “Ireland’s Call,” a song composed by Phil Coulter and the official Irish Rugby Union anthem, marked the finale of the Radio City Music Hall show. Clearly a fan favorite, the rousing anthem brings the entire crowd to its feet, and by the second chorus the audience has picked up enough of the words to enthusiastically sing along.

Producer Sharon Browne styled Celtic Thunder after Celtic Woman, the allfemale singing group created in 2004 to unbelievable success in the United States and around the world. For Celtic Thunder, auditions were held in Scotland and Ireland to find the best singers and performers to fit Browne and Coulter’s vision of the group. For Keith Harkin, the chance to sing in the Celtic supergroup was almost accidental. “I was working with Andy Wright at the time writing music for him and doing music for other people and myself, and I came that day from London, the day they were holding auditions for Celtic Thunder, and I had no idea what Celtic Thunder was or who Sharon Browne was…I went to have a beer with my dad and he paid for my cab ride to the bar and I had no idea why he had paid, walked into the audition still with no idea what I was doing there, and sung a few songs and they liked me. And here I am sitting here today in Springfield [Illinois, on tour].”

Besides Damian and Keith, both natives of Derry, who had performed at some local charitable events in their hometown and had met briefly, the men were all strangers when they were chosen for Celtic Thunder. However, they all shared the thread of a deep devotion to musicianship, even from a very young age. Damian McGinty has been involved with Celtic Thunder since he was fourteen. He won his first singing competition at the age of six. George Donaldson is a well-known Glaswegian flautist, guitarist and singer, and Paul Byrom, from Dublin, is also a long-time professional musician, releasing his solo album “Velvet” in 2005. Ryan Kelly has been DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 89

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actively involved in theater and performed on BBC concert specials before the formation of Celtic Thunder.

Keith told me he had been singing and playing music since he was four, a talent that became a professional pursuit as he blossomed into a solo musician and translated music for the BBC on the Irish language show Two Tongues (Dhá Theanga), in which he was also the lead actor. Keith’s solo career has continued – he created his own music label called Busty Music Ltd in 2009, to which he has already signed his sister. His song “Lauren and I,” a catchy, acoustic pop rock single, is also part of Celtic Thunder’s performances.

The members’ ages span from 18 to 42, a disparity that saves them from being considered an “Irish boy band” and instead, on stage, makes them look like a family. Keith described them as “brothers,” especially since they often spend most of their year together, touring, promoting and filming new concerts and specials.

“The five of us guys get on pretty well and we’ve been together for three years.

This is our fourth tour of America and Canada. So we’ve been living with each

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Left to right Paul, Keith George, Ryan and Damian.

other like brothers for the past three or four years.”

The group is backed by the Celtic Thunder Band, which is front and center throughout the show and equally integral to the quality of Celtic Thunder’s performance. Keith concurs that they are “as much a part of the band as anyone else on stage.” In fact, most of the members can play any and all of the instruments used in the show’s arrangements, switching between fiddles and harps while making agile leaps across the stage in time with the singers. Recently, Neil

Byrne, the guitarist in the band, has been invited to perform some songs along with Celtic Thunder as well as provide backing vocals in various recordings.

With three years of success and accolades under their belts, Celtic Thunder is not stopping anytime soon. Fans can look forward to special performances of Celtic Thunder’s holiday album at the end of the year as well as a PBS Christmas special in December. Though Celtic Thunder can easily draw the globe into Radio City Music Hall, the men still have much of the world left to conquer.

IA

Greatest Irish Americans of the 20th Century Edited by Patricia Harty Foreword by Senator Edward Kennedy The triumphs of the Irish in literature, music, family life, history, politics, and so many other fields are the triumphs of America, too, and all of us are very proud of them.

–Senator Edward Kennedy (From the Foreword) Greatest Irish Americans of the 20th Century is a celebration of Irish Americans, their contribution, and their impact on American history, culture and life.

Signed by the author. $20 includes S&H. Contact: Kerman@irishamerica.com or 212 725 2993 X 150 to order.

90 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

The impact of over 150 Irish Americans, among them James Cagney, Bing Crosby, Walt Disney, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Ford, and John F. Kennedy, is captured in this book through profiles and photos. Essays and reflections from prominent Irish American writers are featured throughout, including: The Paddy Clancy Cell, by Frank McCourt JFK – Our Jack, by Pete Hamill Two Grandfathers, by William Kennedy John Ford – The Quiet Man, by Joseph McBride My Wild Irish Mother – by Mary Higgins Clark John Steinbeck – The Voice of the Dispossessed, by Jim Dwyer

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THE WOMEN WHO INFLUENCED THE POETRY OF W.B.YEATS. Review by James Flannery

W.B. Yeats and the 92 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

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t will come as no surprise to admirers of W.B. Yeats the awareness on the part of both his Muse and himself that the that this greatest of modern poets was a celebrant pain he endured was a necessary condition of service to of the art of love from the beginning to the end the higher purposes of art and nation. of his long and immensely productive career.

Had this book only been confined to an examinaBut now, thanks to a brilliant and magistion of the relationship between Yeats and Maud terial work of scholarship by Joseph M. Gonne in light of the courtly love tradition, it Hassett, we can fully appreciate how much would have been a major achievement. But Yeats owed to the women in his life – nine Joseph Hassett also considers the poetic enterwomen, to be precise, whose alluring mysprise of Yeats as affected by eight other tery held him in thrall and inspired in him women who functioned, each in a uniquely the heightened state of consciousness he different way, as living incarnations of the believed necessary for creative expression.

Muse. Chief among these was his wife As Hassett explains, from the outset of George Hyde-Lees, a gifted woman of only his career Yeats was convinced that art at its 25 when, in October of 1917, she married the most sublime springs from the influx of a then world-famous poet who was twice her supernal form of knowledge far beyond the realm of ordinary discourse. In following this belief Yeats was predisposed to accept the Greek idea that poetry is inspired by the Muses, as expressed in Plato’s dictum that “all good poets…compose their beautiful poems not by art [techne] but because they are inspired and possessed” Opening page: by the Muse who speaks through them. In Ireland this W.B. Yeats and George Hydeconcept was also part of the courtly love tradition Lees. Above: imported by the Normans in the twelfth century and Maud Gonne grafted onto the highly spiritualized love poetry of the and, at right, Gaelic bardic order. In the Irish version of courtly love, her daughter Iseult. a leanansidhe, or fairy mistress from the otherworld, afflicted the poet with an overwhelming desire to celebrate the magical wonders of the beloved and thus win her for himself. Such profound feelings did the leanansidhe inspire that to be deprived of her presence was equivalent to losing one’s faith in God. Hence the theme of love and loss that recurs over and over again in the hauntingly beautiful love songs of Gaelic Ireland – a tradition with which Yeats was thoroughly familiar from his study of Irish folklore.

In the courtly love tradition the Muses were deliberately wooed by the poet to extend his spiritual and aesthetic capacities to their furthest possible reaches. Dante’s pursuit of the unattainable Beatrice – “the suffering of desire,” in Yeats’ phrase – inspired him to become, again in Yeats’ words, “the chief imagination of Christendom.” The sheer unattainableness of the age. Yeats came to the marriage partly as a way of escaping the beloved was one of the essential components of the relationship emotional turmoil of his relationship with Maud, but he nonethebetween the poet and his Muse – that and the terrible frustration less feared that domesticity would cost him his poetic inspiration. of thwarted love. This deliberately cultivated torment for the On their honeymoon George astonished her distracted husband by sake of art is, as Hassett explains, the only plausible reason for suddenly assuming the voice of a messenger from the otherworld Yeats’ 28-year fruitless pursuit of the Irish revolutionary leader with secrets to impart. To his delight and enchantment, the comMaud Gonne. municators of George revealed to him that the moment of sexual Has there ever been a more ardent, exalted, emotionally expresunion was a portal to knowledge of the spiritual world – a knowlsive or tortured tribute to a real life Muse than that contained in edge that carried with it a metaphorical language rooted in a belief the poems and plays of Yeats inspired by Maud? She was everysystem of stunning power and richness. thing to him, including the way she symbolized an Ireland proud, Some 3600 pages of the automatic writings dictated over a fivesolitary and stern that had thrown off the bonds of British coloyear period to George by her ghostly messengers provide a tanginialism and become a beacon of enlightenment in the modern ble record of this strange but highly productive Yeatsian encounter world. An impossible dream, yet much of Ireland’s eminence in with a Muse in the form of his own wife. The poems and plays that the arts today is due to the fact that the poet gave it voice. The resulted from this experience represent the most significant transfrustration of Yeats at his inability to win the hand of Maud also formation and growth of his entire career and include such masterinspired some of the most heart-scalding poetry ever penned. But, pieces of literary modernism as Michael Robartes and the Dancer as Hassett emphasizes, the suffering of the poet was justified by (1921) with “Easter 1916,” “The Second Coming” and “A Prayer DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 93

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for My Daughter” as well as The Tower (1928) containing “Sailing to Byzantium,” “Meditations in Time of Civil War,” “Leda and the Swan” and “Among Schoolchildren.” None of this would have been possible without his marriage and what the eminent Yeats biographer and critic Richard Ellmann described as the “great exfoliation of his talent” that followed. Ellmann avers that, had he died in 1917, Yeats would have been known as simply “an important minor poet.” Instead, the new confidence out of which he began to write was directly due to the esoteric knowledge and symbolic language to which his wife gave him access. Henceforth he would be recognized, in the words of T.S. Eliot, as “one of those

Olivia Shakespear. with whom Yeats had a brief affair, and an enduring friendship. Opposite page, W.B. Yeats, and the cover of Hassett’s book.

few whose history is the history of their own time, who are a part of the consciousness of an age that cannot be understood without them.”

Perhaps the most startling and intriguing of all the living Muses who inspired Yeats was Iseult Gonne, the daughter of Maud, who possessed a lithesome loveliness, a playful flirtatiousness and a remarkably advanced intellectual sophistication when in 1912, at the age of eighteen, she began to exert an uncanny influence on Yeats’ imagination during a period when he was beginning to fear that his creative fires were extinguished. Yeats, then a middle-aged man of forty-seven, found himself struggling over his increased infatuation with Iseult even as in lyrics such as “A Memory of Youth” he acknowledged how “Love,” or inspiration, would have died were it not for the intervention of “a most ridiculous little bird [who] Tore from the skies his marvelous moon.” The little bird is of course Iseult while the moon, in the tradition of the White Goddess of 94 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

courtly love, is a source of the wisdom required by the artist for meaningful expression.

In a letter to Yeats, Iseult described herself as both his “pupil” and his “teacher.” At several points in their relationship they even considered marriage to one another. Yeats was relieved when the “wild gusts of feeling” provoked by the Lolita-like Iseult subsided in favor of “a new life of work and common interest” with George.

Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to view their relationship as simply the clichéd obsession of an older man with an attractive younger woman. As Hassett makes clear, their friendship was founded upon profound intellectual and spiritual communion. That and Yeats’ awareness that Iseult was capable of reviving his creative life in the capacity of an alluring but incorporeal Muse who stimulated a desire that must forever be deferred.

From the outset Iseult was aware that she was destined to play the role of Muse for Yeats, though as Hassett points out, in a touching and somewhat rueful poem of hers she proclaimed that being a Muse was but “a strangely useless thing.” This and many other aspects of Iseult made their way into the philosophical essays, poetry and plays of Yeats written between 1912 and 1917. His subsequent rebirth as a writer under the influence of George could not have occurred without the intervention at a crucial moment in his life of a youthful Muse who variously oscillated in his poetic imagination as a girl-woman of immense self-possession, grace and charm, a seductive but unattainable object of desire and a source of revelation about the process of creativity itself.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Yeats’ relationship with women is, as Hassett emphasizes, how much of their wisdom he absorbed and then garbed in his own redolent verse. Several of the Muses discussed by Hassett also inspired the psychologically rich and subtle characters in his plays. The Only Jealousy of Emer (1919), for instance, explores the complex interrelationship among human and spiritual forces unleashed by the poet’s powerful feelings for Maud, Iseult and his wife George. The play opens with an exquisite lyric directly inspired by Iseult that at the same time functions as a meditation on the unfathomable longings stirred in the poet by the eternal feminine as “romantic and mysterious, still the priestess of her shrine.”

A woman’s beauty is like a white Frail bird, like a white sea-bird alone At daybreak after a stormy night Between two furrows upon the ploughed land.

A sudden storm, and it was thrown Between dark furrows upon the ploughed land.

How many centuries spent The sedentary soul In toils of measurement Beyond eagle or mole, Beyond hearing or seeing, Or Archimedes’ guess, To raise into being That loveliness.

Perhaps the most haunting of all the Muse relationships discussed in the book concerns Olivia Shakespear, an extraordinarily beautiful, deeply cultured and compassionate woman with whom Yeats conducted a brief love affair in the mid-1890s in yet another earlier effort to overcome his feelings for Maud Gonne.

Olivia, as Hassett says, “introduced him to the real experience of what fascinated him so much as metaphor: the sexual union of men and women.” Their communion of body and soul was

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intensely fulfilling and exerted a profound influence on Yeats’ emotional and creative life that lasted until Olivia’s death in 1938.

“A Poet to His Beloved,” with its delicate evocation of a “White woman that passion has worn / As the tide wears the dove-gray sands” conveys Yeats’ endless fascination with the White Goddess of his poetic imaginings – an image as elusive and haunting as the ever-changing phases of the moon. Yeats’ love affair with Olivia Shakespear taught him that poetic language must be “as subtle, as complex, as full of mysterious life as the body of a flower or of a woman.” The poems inspired by Olivia were, as Hassett comments, “an intensely crafted use of language to open the door to the Beauty long faded from the world.”

Despite the love he felt for Olivia, Yeats found himself unable to efface Maud’s image from his mind, a situation that gave enormous pain to Olivia, as evidenced in the incredibly moving sentiment of “The Lover Mourns for the Loss of Love”: Pale brows, still hands and dim hair, I had a beautiful friend And dreamed that the old despair Would end in love in the end: She looked in my heart one day And saw your image was there; She has gone weeping away.

It was, according to Hassett, the very availability of Olivia as a woman that made her unsuitable as a Muse. Nonetheless, her erotic allure combined with her empathy remained with Yeats to the end as an iconic image of love experienced as enduring friendship and, as these tender lines written in 1929 indicate, a testimony to the enduring power of physical love to stir the human heart: Speech after long silence, it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were ignorant.

Yeats was sixty-four when he wrote these lines and had but another decade to live. Amazingly, this decade, when he was impotent but still full of desire, gave rise to yet another phase in his relationship to the Muse. This time, however, rather than seeking inspiration in an outer manifestation of his creative impulse, Yeats came to the realization that the source of his art lay in the intersection of masculine and feminine energies contained within his own psyche. Yeats explained this as a recognition that his creativity arose from an engagement with “the woman within me.” In one stunning poem and play after another, Yeats demonstrated how passionate his imagination became when expressing itself through the persona of a woman for

whom sexual desire was the exact equivalent of spiritual longing. In effect, Yeats became his own Muse by assuming a woman’s sexual identity in the Crazy Jane poems and in plays like A Full Moon in March which insists on an ideal of love that survives the decrepitude of the body and death itself.

Joseph Hassett’s W.B. Yeats and the Muses is a magnificent achievement.

What he demonstrates with clarity, discretion and profound insight is that Yeats is a consummate poet of love. In exploring what is essentially the love life of a genius, Hassett’s intention has nothing to do with satisfying the prurient curiosity that seems to infect much discourse today within and without the academy. For this reader, the most impressive aspect of Hassett’s research lies in the fresh and elegantly nuanced interpretations he brings to a number of Yeats’ most significant works. Through his careful analysis of how the love and sexual passion of a great artist can infuse his creative life with inspiration and power, Hassett has made a major contribution not only to Yeats studies but also to a more enlightened understanding of how ordinary human beings can live more productively engaged and fulfilled lives.

Yeats once proclaimed of his mystical pursuits that “an Adept must be always seeking ways of giving the purest substance of his soul to fill the emptiness of other souls.” Hassett’s record of how Yeats engaged himself with the various living Muses who inspired his work is a vivid depiction of how the creative process actually works. His analysis of the art resulting from that effort is a living testimony to the ways in which Yeats maximized his talent by engaging himself openly, passionately and courageously with his deepest and most intimate aspirations and drives. As such, Yeats’ life-affirming artistic achievement is at one with his religious convictions. The incredible poetry and plays of Yeats are, like the mercies of sainthood, a gift to mankind. Joseph Hassett deserves enormous credit for teaching us that lesson.

His study of how the sanctifying energy of love functions in the life of a great artist is itself a labor of love and a much-needed corrective to those who would dismiss the art of Yeats by dismissing the tortuous, sacrificial methods by which it was created. Like his subject, Hassett’s book is a work of great intellectuIA al and human significance that will stand the test of time.

W.B. Yeats and the Muses. Oxford University Press.

264 Pages. $110. To order at the discounted price visit www.oup.com/us and enter in promo code 29224

James Flannery is the Winship Professor of Arts and Humanities and Director of the W.B. Yeats Foundation at Emory University.

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We Can’t Give Up on Haiti Tom Moran, chairman of Mutual of America, is also chairman of the Irish relief organization Concern Worldwide U.S. which has been working in Haiti since 1994. He recently returned from Haiti, where he witnessed Concern’s efforts on behalf of the survivors of the earthquake. This is his report.

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r. Aengus Finucane, a founder of Concern Worldwide and the honorary president of Concern Worldwide U.S. until his death one year ago, often reminded us that in order to truly understand poverty you had to see it with your own eyes and breathe it into your lungs. Only then, he said, will you know poverty and the strength and resilience of the people with whom Concern works throughout the world.

This past October, Joe Coppotelli, vice chairman of Structure Tone who will be honored at the annual Concern Worldwide Seeds of Hope dinner, took the time from his busy schedule to visit Concern’s programs in Haiti with me. He returned with an understanding of exactly why support for Concern is so important.

Our first stop with Joe was to visit a temporary housing camp at Place de la Paix that became home to over 18,000 people displaced by the earthquake. A large part of this particular camp was built within the walls of a football stadium. What you quickly realize when you first visit Haiti is that any open ground, whether it was a football pitch or a park, was immediately taken over by the people displaced by the earthquake. Tent cities popped up everywhere. These temporary shelters were initially constructed of little more than plastic sheeting. Of course, the haphazard manner in which these open fields were transformed into temporary housing camps complicated other issues which quickly became critically important to the safety and health of the people living in the camps. Concern understood that the people would suffer a further disaster

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Joe Coppotelli, Vice Chairman of Structure Tone and Concern Worldwide Seeds of Hope dinner honoree, visits Concern’s programs in Haiti.

unless they had access to improved housing, safe drinking water and proper hygiene. These makeshift dwellings were far worse than what most people could ever imagine as living quarters.

Concern responded by bringing in experts from around the world to develop innovative solutions that were almost immediately put in place in an attempt to address the greatest and most immediate needs of the camps Concern was serving.

Ten thousand gallon water bladders were placed strategically to address the need for water, a Concern engineer designed a latrine system which was subsequently adopted by the UN as a model,

shelter improvement kits were distributed, and solar-powered lighting was added in the camps to those areas with the heaviest foot traffic during the night.

And work-for-pay programs involved the community in creating solutions. The streets of Port au Prince are still being cleared of earthquake debris by individuals who report every morning as part of the cash-for-work program.

There are no easy solutions to the issues of intense poverty in the world and there are certainly no quick fixes to the earthquake in Haiti, which in less than a minute left more than a million and a half people homeless.

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In March of this year, I visited a site on the outskirts of Port au Prince called Tabarre Issa which was then 24 acres of muddy land.The government had bought the site as part of its plan to move families from the most overcrowded tent cities to a more spacious, cleaner environment. Concern took the challenge of managing this large project which would build new homes for 1,500 families.

From the outset, Concern sought to engage the local community in the nearby village of Gallet Griffin and agreed to help rebuild 750 houses – which had been damaged or destroyed in the earthquake. The residents of Gallet Griffin, and those families invited to move to the new site at Tabarre Issa there, were consulted at every step taken to ensure that what was being built would be a new neighborhood, not a regimented camp.

Within a matter of weeks, the site was leveled, proper drainage installed, and the land was transformed into a planned community with temporary family-size tents in place. Across the road, the same provisions were being made for the people of Gallet Griffin. Returning, in October, we saw that Tabarre Issa has progressed even further, now offering safe and dignified transitional living quarters for families to live in while they put their lives back together.

Importantly, the work in Tabarre Issa is being done by local residents who have

THREE VIEWS: Concern has undertaken the project of building 1500 new homes in the planned community of Tabarre Issa and rebuilding 750 homes in neighboring Gallet Griffin using local labor. ABOVE: Tom Moran, Chairman of Mutual of America and Chairman of Concern Worldwide US, visits with residents of Tabarre Issa.

“In order to truly understand poverty you have to see it with your own eyes and breathe it into your lungs.” been trained under Concern’s cash-forwork program. Houses are now going up at a rate of between 5 and 10 per day. It is remarkable to see how much has happened since March. There are new roads, health services and schools now provided for the residents.

Questions continue to be raised about the lack of progress being made for so many of the more than one million people who continue to be suffering in Haiti.

One week before we arrived, the cholera epidemic had already killed 300 people

outside of Port au Prince. The fear of this epidemic reaching the congested tent cities in Port au Prince and spreading uncontrollably could be felt everywhere we went. One week after we left, Hurricane Tomas was moving towards Haiti with the threat of floods exacerbating the cholera epidemic. As we left, Concern was already distributing hygiene kits and hydration packs. The water supplied to the camps was being treated with chlorine and the teams were preparing for the hurricane.

Thinking about all of the problems still facing Haiti, it seems easy to despair.

Yet, just recently there was a soccer match between Tabarre Issa and Gallet Griffin, the two communities. Despite all of the problems still facing these communities, on that one day there was the healthy competition of friends enjoying a Sunday afternoon together. If they can retain their humanity and optimism, how can we possibly despair?

Let’s not give up on the children of Haiti who continue to need our help! IA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 97

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WAR AND PEACE:

Ireland since the 1960’s

Christine Kinealy’s newest book is destined to become a standard reference.

Review by Jim Cullen.

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hristine Kinealy’s background as a professor of history at Drew University and her past publications place her at the forefront of Irish historical research. She has authored at least fourteen books, prior to her current book War and Peace: Ireland since the 1960s.

She is one of the foremost authorities on the Irish Famine, or, as it is more aptly known, the Great Starvation. She is also one of the world’s leading authorities on the events of 1848 when revolutions wracked Europe.

Out of those revolutions came assertions of civil rights and liberties we take for granted today but which, in that crucible year, were radical.

Kinealy’s new book addresses an equally transformative period in the history of Ireland.

It is a story of terror and dislocation as people sought social justice and peace. It also tells the story of determination and achievement, set against the background of poverty and social conservatism. Of lives that were lost or shattered, as men and women of vision and courage were too often outmaneuvered by those who put prejudice and personal gain above peace and social justice.

I am reasonably familiar with recent Irish history, having been a witness on the periphery of some of it. Yet I found on the first page of Kinealy’s introduction an important facet of key legislation with which I was not previously familiar. You will find other fascinating information and insights as you view the tapestry of events that she has masterfully unrolled to show interlocking patterns of politics and culture dyed into the background of armed conflict. Some happen-

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ings may be isolated in your recollection, as they were in mine, but Kinealy places those events in a chronological, political and cultural context. This form of reporting will refresh your recollection and enable you to evaluate what happened with the benefit of recent revelations and

well written you will be tempted to stay up too late, just to finish the next chapter. It is also meticulously researched and footnoted. I predict it will become a standard history of the period.

If I leave you in any doubt about the merits of War and Peace: Ireland since the 1960s, let me just give you a snippet from one review in a publication in Northern Ireland, the South Belfast News. “Whatever you do buy this book! If you need reminding of the cruelty and injustice visited on this part of Ireland in recent decades, buy this book.

If you want to develop awareness of the support structure for injustice provided by the press and academia here, read this book. If you know someone whose mind

The book tells the story of dislocation as people sought social justice and peace. It also tells the story of determination and achievement.

government documents that have found their way into the public domain. Kinealy uses this information in such a way that she provides a better understanding of the tragedies and missed opportunities, which compounded the losses suffered in singular events.

Kinealy’s writing style is clear, concise and engrossing. In fact, this book is so

needs opening and/or who is in need of an absorbing Christmas read, buy this book. They don’t come much better than this.”

After reading just half of the book, I decided to purchase copies for each of my children as memorable Christmas gifts. I suggest you do the same for anyone who has an interest or curiosity about events in IA Ireland during the last few decades. $40/414 pages/Reaktion Books www.reaktionbooks.com

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A selection of recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest.

Joyce’s Legacy olm Herron’s second novel, Further Adventures of James Joyce, is an extremely ambitious work. Herron, who lives in Derry, takes his readers back to the tense and volatile Derry of the late 1980s, where Myles Corrigan and Conn Doherty spend much of their time drinking and talking in a local haunt, The Drunken Dog. In the midst of the palpable grief, depression, violence, and political and religious unrest (which Herron powerfully yet subtly conveys) the book takes many metafictional turns. Myles often interrupts Herron’s narration as the author and his character bicker about narrative decisions. Three-quarters of the way through the book, James Joyce talks with Myles from beyond the grave and enlists his help in transcribing his last masterpiece.

But in order for their plan to succeed, Myles must take over the writing of Further Adventures since Herron is suffering from incurable writer’s block and is contemplating killing off his protagonist in what Joyce and Myles deem to be all too neat an ending.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed his writing, I was left wishing Herron hadn’t given up and let his character – who is a much more pretentious and self-involved writer – take over. Still, Herron’s wit is clear throughout and I am excited to see what he writes next.

– Sheila Langan

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(249 pages / Dakota / $10.42)

The ABCs of Joyce or readers weary of the more tedious notes for and companions to James Joyce’s Ulysses, Julian Rios’ novel The House of Ulysses presents a new and exciting option. Rios, one of Spain’s foremost post-modernist writers, has approached Joyce’s work with insight, elegance and a very necessary sense of humor.

The book takes place in the fictional Ulysses Museum, where the visitors/readers are guided through eighteen rooms that correspond with the eighteen chapters of Ulysses. A cicerone (an old term for

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guide) is joined by Professor Ludwig Jones, a seasoned Joyce scholar, and three critics called A, B and C, each of whom have differing opinions concerning the text. In a clever reinterpretation of Joyce’s “man in the macintosh,” a mysterious man with a Mac computer lurks in the background and presents the traditional breakdown of each chapter’s title, setting, time, symbol, etc. As they enter each room, the members of the group first discuss and then re-tell the events and meanings of each chapter.

Though the book is not explicitly intended to serve as a guide to Ulysses, it seems unlikely that anyone unacquainted with Dublin on June 16, 1904 would have the patience to follow the meandering tour, which frequently draws from and sometimes parodies the various styles Joyce employed. But for anyone trying to work their way through or revisit Joyce’s work, The House of Ulysses is an engaging resource and a brilliant testament to the wonderful confusion and debate that Ulysses so frequently inspires.

– Sheila Langan (280 pages / Dalkey Archive Press / $14.95)

The Room ublin-born playwright, literary historian and novelist Emma Donoghue has been critically lauded for her latest novel, Room, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and an international bestseller. The attention she’s received for this unique, disturbing and awe-filled work is

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well deserved. Five-year-old Jack, who lives in the eleven-by-eleven-foot space that is the title’s namesake with his Ma, narrates Room with a voice that is as compelling as it is convincing. Room contains Jack’s entire world – the stain on the Rug where he was born, the Bed where he and Ma sleep, the Wardrobe where she shuts him in safely every night in preparation for the visits of Old Nick, and the TV that provides a confusing perspective of a world outside where the ten o’clock news is as much a fantasy as SpongeBob. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the space of Jack’s whole life and comfort is Ma’s prison, and her desperation to escape will require both of them to stretch the limits of their stifled imaginations.

While a literal and thrilling story in its own right, Room also becomes a brilliant allegory for all parent-child relationships: for a small child, his mother can often feel like his entire world, while her child’s love both traps her and gives her very existence meaning.

The inevitable opening up of the rest of the world is differently wondrous and traumatic for both of them.

The space of Room emphasizes the closed-circuit intimacy of the motherchild connection, as well as the claustrophobia and incredible creativity and love therein. Look for an interview with Emma Donoghue in an upcoming issue of Irish America.

– Kara Rota (336 pages / Little, Brown andCompany / $24.99)

The Sleepwalker ohn Toomey’s debut novel, Sleepwalker, is a fable of spiritual decay and its emotional toll, a send-up of those coming into adulthood at a particular generational and socioeconomic point that offered them the life of their dreams, and their crushing disappointment when they come face-to-face with the lack of imagination that keeps them from doing so.

Sleepwalker is told by a bland yet

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unforgivingly observant narrator, documenting the downward spiral of antihero Stuart Byrne. Paralyzed with apathy, Stuart handles his successful if mind-numbing career and a series of events in his love life – ranging from an unexpected pregnancy to confronting his “platonic” relationship with his best friend, Rachel – with exponential ineptitude and helplessness. It is a feat of Toomey’s spot-on black humor and emotional generosity that the superficial and selfish Stuart is neither despicable or pitiable, but deeply familiar.

– Kara Rota

of Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Obama’s mother, who succumbed to cancer in 1995.

MacDonogh’s book is a fascinating trip into the genealogical past of a president. He gives life to people centuries gone, making it easy to forget, as one reads, that this is a story leading up to a political milestone.

The pictures throughout the book are the perfect visual component for readers to latch onto as the generations proceed from Offaly to Ohio, from Hawaii to Washington.

– Tara Dougherty

(272 p. / Dalkey Archive Press / 10.99 euros)

In Search of Craic

(288 pages / Brandon Books / $34.95)

Going Blind ara Faulkner’s Going Blind is a memoir with many layers.

Faulkner (no relation to William) uses her writing as a testing ground for figuring out her experience of her father’s blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa.

This genetic form of gradual blindness, which her paternal great-grandparents took with them when they emigrated from Ireland, becomes an interesting vantage point from which Faulkner approaches other kinds of blindness, both physical and mental. Each chapter revolves around a different manifestation of being unable to see, from “blind spot[s]” to “blinders” to “turning a blind eye.” Under these over-arching topics, Faulkner covers a surprisingly wide range of issues, including moments in her personal history and historical events in which blindness (sometimes unintentional, sometimes willful) played a role. She moves seamlessly from the difficulties and prejudices faced by the blind, to the blind eyes that refused to acknowledge the Great Hunger, to the tragic saga of Native American displacement in the Midwest, to connotations of blindness in scripture and society.

Faulkner has clearly done extensive research and she expertly unfolds her findings and her confusions. She doesn’t just tell readers about her experience, but invites them to share in making sense of her contemplations and discoveries.

ust what the world needs: another bloody book about Ireland.” Maybe not the best way to start off a book about Irish music, but Colin Irwin seems to make it work.

In his book In Search of the Craic: One Man’s Pub Crawl Through Irish Music, well-respected British music journalist Irwin sets out on a trip to discover Irish music in the present day and through his travels finds etchings of the past in all modern playing. Iriwin makes the point that other than the few exceptions of The Chieftains and Clancy Brothers, traditional Irish music remains absent from the charts. The true soul of Irish music is to be found in seisiún, and Irwin takes it upon himself to embark on a thirsty, rambunctious pub crawl.

Touching on the legacy of Irish music giants like Seán Ó’Riada, who built classical Western music sounds around traditional Irish songs, all the way to the worldwide sensations of U2 and Enya, Irwin also gives a solid history of the more modern musical journey of Ireland.

His troubles finding certain artists or pinpointing origins of certain traditions bring the reader into the trip with his tensionand-release style of storytelling. It is an impossible feat to understand the evolution of Irish style or the X-factor that makes it so captivating, but as Irwin recognizes, the magic is often in the mystery.

– Tara Dougherty

“J

M

While this is not a light read, it is an extremely rewarding one.

– Sheila Langan (227 pages / Excelsior Editions / $19.95)

The Obama Family n his book Pioneers: The Frontier Family of Barack Obama, Stephen MacDonogh writes a hypnotic account which pulls readers directly into the tales of wigmakers and pioneers, creating a historical arc of personal and national struggle and the triumph that leads to President Barack Obama.

The early chapters read like a novel, chronicling the journey of a post-Famine immigrant family, the Kearneys. Sections of Irish history are kept somewhat skeletal, giving the general outline of the conditions of Ireland in the discussed periods, mainly the Famine and immediate post-Famine decades. The focus is sharply kept on the Kearneys and later the Dunhams when marriage in the States begins the cross-cultural journey that would lead to the first African-American president of the United States.

More personal and character details are presented as the book moves to more recent times, painting an engaging picture

I

(320 pages / Carlton Publishing Group / $15.95)

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{sláinte}

By Edythe Preet

Ireland’s Viking Heritage The word ‘Ireland’ is derived from Old Norse Iraland. Edythe Preet looks at the legacy of the Vikings in Ireland, including influences that linger in Irish winter holiday celebrations. ne day while searching for I can’t remember what in my foot-thick Webster’s, which has been my word go-to since high school, I stumbled upon a most interesting linguistic factoid.

Every single question word in the English language (who, what, where, when, which, and why, plus whose, whither, whence, whom and even how) has a Viking origin. It makes sense.

Picture this: a Viking raiding ship has just dropped anchor and hordes of bloodthirsty marauders have come ashore.

They chase down one poor fellow and bombard him with questions. Who are you? What place is this? Where is your leader? When did he leave? Which way did he go? Why won’t you tell us where the gold is? And the clincher: How many men are hiding in the forest?

It doesn’t take much to imagine the scene, especially since Hollywood has done us the favor of putting it up on the big screen countless times. Huge, helmeted Viking warriors wreaking havoc on a sleepy pastoral setting provide spectacular action footage and big box office returns. However, it was not so entertaining a scenario some twelve hundred years ago in Ireland.

The first recorded raid occurred in 795AD when the church on Lambeg Island was plundered and burned. While the Vikings were pagans, their assaults were not religion based. At the time, there were no true towns in Ireland but rather scattered communities near monasteries that served as ‘safe houses’ for valuables, food, and cattle. This made those locations prime targets for Viking raids.

Why Ireland was singled out is not clear, but most historians agree that her lush landscape proved an enticement the Norsemen could not ignore as their own territory lay in such a harsh climate zone that farming was an arduous business at best.

Another factor that played a huge part in the invasions was the Northerners sea-

O

102 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

faring knowledge. The Irish had not yet developed any shipbuilding skills, relying on coracles, small willow-framed one or two-man boats covered in animal hides, to ferry people and goods on the island’s network of rivers and streams.

The Viking longboat, on the other hand, was an amazing example of advanced maritime technology for the time. It was durable enough to weather the worst storms of the North Atlantic, yet its slen-

winters and verdant hills convinced the offshore interlopers it would be wise to emigrate there. In the 9th century, invasions began in earnest. The monastery of Armagh was sacked in 832AD, and Clonmacnoise in 837AD. At the time, Ireland was divided into numerous ‘kingdoms’ that no one ruled outright, and no unified force defended the territory. The Vikings continued raiding Ireland, pushing ever deeper inland, marrying local On August, 4, 2007, the Sea Stallion from Glendalough arrived back in Dublin, nearly 1,000 years after it was constructed out of Irish wood. Its Heimkváma, an Old Norse word that means Homecoming, featured ministers from Denmark and Ireland, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and hundreds of interested on-lookers. The trip started out in Roskilde where the original ship – Skuldelev 2 – was found in 1962 and ended in Dublin where the original ship was built by Vikings 920 years earlier in 1042.

der design and minimal draft could easily navigate inland rivers and land on shallow coastal beaches.

Initially, the Vikings were satisfied with seasonal lightning raids on their Southern neighbors. Men headed out to sea after their spring crops had been planted and returned home after a few months of pillaging to reap the meager autumn harvest, their boats heavy with plunder and slaves.

It wasn’t long before Ireland’s mild

women, and making trade alliances with the various chieftains.

One of the earliest Viking settlements established at the mouth of the Liffey survived to become what is now modern Dublin. In 914AD, a fleet of ships established a base at Waterford, followed by a base at Cork. Somewhat later, an invasion up the Shannon estuary laid the foundation for Limerick.

Archaeological digs at these towns and other sites around Ireland have shown that the Vikings assimilated almost seamlessly with Irish life. Like the island’s inhabitants, the newcomers were farmers and herdsmen and ate a wide variety of native vegetables, greens, dairy, grain (oats), game, wild fowl, and beef. Unlike the Irish, who although they were island dwellers did not consume much fish, the Viking diet included copious amounts of

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RECIPES seafood, much of which was preserved by salting. The invaders also blessed the Irish kitchen with a new dietary staple – chicken – which the long-ranging seafarers had discovered and quickly adopted in China where the birds had their origin.

For nearly two hundred years, the Vikings continued their pattern of invasion, settlement, and assimilation. Dublin developed into a wealthy trading center serving other Western European towns with slaves, commodities and shipbuilding skills.

Meanwhile the individual Irish kingdoms began banding together, uniting finally under a single High King of Ireland, the great chieftain Brian Boru. His attempts to make everyone swear allegiance to him failed in only one key quarter. Mael Morda, King of Leinster, had cut his own deal with the Viking King of Dublin. Unable to iron out their differences, the opposing forces met at the bloody Battle of Clontarf on April 3, 1014. Despite the fact that Brian Boru was killed, the unified Irish chiefs prevailed, tolling the finale of major Viking influence on Ireland.

While researching this article, I decided to look for more linguistic Viking connections to Ireland. Up popped Waterford and Wexford. Both were built on inlets from the sea that still in Norse are called fjords. The city of Howth comes from hofuth, Old Norse for ‘headlands’: Skerries comes from skjcby, meaning ‘a rock.’ Ulster, Leinster, and Munster all share the ending ‘ster’ which comes from Old Norse stathir, meaning ‘a place.’ Proving how pervasive and permanent the Vikings were on the Emerald Isle, even the word ‘Ireland’ is derived from Old Norse Iraland! (For more info see: http://www.archive.org/stream/scandinavianrela00wals/scandinavianrela00wals_dj vu.txt) There were numerous other fascinating links, but the one that really flabbergasted me was my grandmother’s name: MacCaffrey! It stems from the Norse family name ‘Guthothr.’ I’m guessing here, but it could be an amalgam of gut (good) and Thor (the Norse warrior god whose hammer shook the heavens with thunderclaps) as many names were based on Norse deities. One thing is certain. Viking genes are floating around somewhere in my DNA chanting what has morphed from the warrior’s queries to the modern journalist’s six-word mantra: Who? What?

When? Where? Why? How? Sláinte! IA

A few traces of Viking influence linger in Irish winter holiday celebrations. In ancient times, the darkest days of the year were illuminated with the burning of a huge holly-decorated Yule Log to beseech Thor, the thunder god, to return the sun (Old Norse jol) to the heavens. Vikings also draped their homes and doorways with garlands of mistletoe to symbolize peace and hospitality. Feasting centered on seafood, especially the ubiquitous North Atlantic salmon, plus oysters (for fertility), pork (for wealth), and copious amounts of mulled wine flavored with spices acquired on their far-ranging longboat journeys.

GRAVLAX – Salt-cured Salmon 1 2 1 1 ⁄2 1

side of wild Atlantic salmon (skin on), approx 3 lbs. large dill bunches cup kosher salt cup sugar tablespoon whole black peppercorns

Mix salt with sugar, and set aside. Line a glass or otherwise non-reactive baking dish with plastic wrap. Cut salmon side in half. Place one piece, skin down, on the wrap. Cover with one-half of salt-sugar mixture and sprinkle with peppercorns. Place a thick layer of dill sprigs over the salt-sugar, reserving some for garnish. Spread remaining salt-sugar on the other piece of salmon. Place second piece on top of the first, this time with skin up. Completely wrap salmon with plastic wrap. Place another baking dish on top of salmon. Put two heavy weights in the uppermost baking dish. Refrigerate salmon for four days, turning salmon over each day. On the fifth day, brush dill, peppercorns and salt-sugar off salmon, place salmon pieces end-to-end in a large platter and garnish with fresh dill sprigs. Slice thinly and accompany with slices of hearty bread. Serves 8 to 12 as an hors d’oeuvre. (Personal recipe)

ANGELS ON HORSEBACK

Note: While the Oxford English Dictionary claims this is originally a French recipe, I maintain that its origin is Norse and refers to the Valkyries, female demi-gods, who rode down from the sky on wild stallions to carry fallen Viking warriors to their reward in Valhalla where they would carouse and feast for all eternity.

3 dozen shucked oysters 18 bacon strips, cut in half

Wrap each oyster with half a bacon strip. Secure with wood toothpicks that have been soaked in water so they will not burn. Broil angels, turning as the bacon browns. Serve immediately. Makes 8-12 servings.

MULLED WINE 2 6 2 1 ⁄2 1 ⁄2

bottles red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz) cinnamon sticks oranges, halved and studded w/ whole cloves cup sugar cup brandy

Pour wine into a non-reactive soup pot. Add cinnamon sticks, clove-studded oranges, sugar and brandy. Warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally to make sure sugar dissolves, until the wine has taken on the flavor of the spices, approximately 15 minutes. Do not let boil. Serves 8-12. (Personal recipe)

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{roots}

By Tara Dougherty

The Kelly Clan Sports stars, politicians, writers and rogues.

K

elly is one of the most common Irish names due to the fact that it originates from at least seven different and unrelated ancient clans or septs. One of the major septs is the O’Kellys of Ui Maine or Hy Many in East Galway and South Roscommon.

An authentic pedigree of this family exists from earliest times and is contained in the Book of Hy Many, which was written in the 14th century under the direction of William O’Kelly, chief of Hy Many.

The name O’Kelly is derived from the Gaelic O Ceallaigh, meaning “descended from Ceallach.”

The latter is an ancient personal name. The name McKelly, which means “son of Kelly” also exists, though it is less common.

Sean T. O’Kelly (1882-1966) was President of Ireland from 1945 to 1959. Kelly is reported to have been one of the most common Irish names appearing on early American records. On the muster rolls of the American Revolutionary Army, there are no less than 695 Kellys including Major John Kelly, who is remembered for his destruction of the bridge at Stonybrook during the American retreat from Trenton.

Another famous American Kelly was Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly (1849-1928) who, almost unintentionally, became a famous U.S. Army scout. In 1865, he enlisted in the 10th Infantry. After the war, he was ordered west to Colorado, where he learned the Sioux language and customs. After his eventual release from the Army, he became a hunter and trapper in the Yellowstone area. He subsequently rejoined the Army as a guide to General Forsythe. As chief scout to General Wilson Miles, Kelly later served in several campaigns against Sitting Bull and the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes. He also served as a guide for the Army in other areas of Colorado and, later, on an expedition to Alaska. Later in his long career, he headed a party of Marines in the Philippines and received special praise from President Roosevelt. He is buried at Kelly Mountain, Billings, Montana.

Also present with Yellowstone Kelly in the campaign against Sitting Bull was James O’Kelly (1845-1916). A war correspondent and politician, his life was no less remarkable. Born in Dublin, he joined the French Foreign Legion at age 18 and was sent to Mexico to support Emperor Maximilian. He was captured by the Mexican General Canales, but escaped and returned to France where he served as a captain in the French Army.

In 1870, O’Kelly joined the New York Herald and was sent to report on the Cuban revolt. There, he managed to penetrate the Cuban lines to interview General Caspades, President of the Republic. Captured by the Spanish, he avoided being shot as a spy only by diplomatic intervention. Following his reporting of the Sitting Bull campaign, he returned to Ireland and became a Nationalist member of the Parliament in 1880.

104 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

A controversial character in the history of the Irish in Australia was Edward “Ned” Kelly (1854-1880). A symbol of resistance to colonial rule in Australia and the son of an Irish convict, Kelly’s string of robberies and attacks on police forces and colonial institutions left him jailed and executed. He remains an iconic symbol of the resistance to British rule down under.

In the sporting field, Michael “King” Kelly (1857-1894) was a great baseball player of his era. He made his name with the Chicago White-Stockings. In 1887, he was sold to Boston for the then record price of $10,000, earning him the nickname “the $10,000 Beauty.”

Grace Kelly (1929-1982), the film star who became Princess of Monoco, was the granddaughter of John Kelly from County Mayo.

Her father, Jack Kelly, was a self-made millionaire and also an Olympic gold medalist in rowing. Her uncle, George Kelly, was a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Also in show business was the dynamic Gene Kelly (1913-1996), star of such classics as Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris.

Creating sparks in both film and literature, Mary Pat Kelly does her clan proud by telling the tales of Ireland and Irish America. Her recent novel Galway Bay is a moving depiction of the immigrant story and her films document the lives of the Irish in politics and in the Armed Forces. Her direct line of Kellys were no strangers to politics – her ancestor was mayor of Chicago.

Another writer of the Kelly stronghold is Keith J. Kelly who writes a media column for the NY Post. He founded Kelly Gang, which holds benefits and honors various member of the clan, including Ray Kelly is the current Commissioner of the New York City Police Department. He has served the NYPD in various capacities for 31 years.

The Kelly clan is also well-represented in our Business 100 list this year, by Fran Kelly, vice chairman of Arnold Worldwide; Robert Kelly, CEO and chairman of Bank of New York Mellon; David Kelly, chief marketing strategist at J.P. Morgan; Shaun Kelly, vice chair – operations at KPMG; and Margaret Kelly, CEO of Re/Max. And last, but by no means least, is Coach Brian Kelly, the subject of our cover story, who has achieved a great deal of success in his career and is now raing the bar at the University of Notre Dame.

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{crossword}

By Darina Molloy

ACROSS

1 See 5 down (7) 6 (& 49 across) First names of Grimes twins who make up Jedward (4) 7 (& 45 across) Late night chat host who poked fun at Irish PM’s ‘morning after’ radio interview (3) 8 Boston setting for Ben Affleck’s The Town (11) 13 (& 28 down) Winner of last year’s Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award (5) 15 Is plural (3) 16 Known as the model county (7) 17 Not off (2) 18 (& 19 down) This political group wouldn’t sound out of place in Alice in Wonderland (3) 20 Part of Saving Private Ryan was filmed on this Wexford beach (9) 21 Zodiac sign of the scales (5) 22 (& 31 across) Irish banker who declared bankruptcy in U.S. (5) 24 (& 26 across) ___ and ___: Bill O’Reilly book (8) 25 An important prophet in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (5) 26 See 24 across (8) 31 See 22 across (5) 33 Rural TV soap starring the late Mick Lally (7) 34 CT is the ___ State (6) 36 Strong man Charles Atlas was born in this country (7) 38 Major crossing point on the River Shannon (7) 40 __ the way (2) 41 Capital of County Clare (5) 43 To give or allow someone something, usually officially (5) 45 See 7 across (4) 47 (& 39 down) Winner of Ireland’s Greatest competition (4) 48 See 14 down (4) 49 See 6 across (6)

DOWN

2 Busy Kerry seaside resort (11) 3 Very small round mark (3) 4 Round handle (4)

5 (& 1 across) Irish TV host who has written a book about JFK’s trip to Ireland (4) 7 Connect or become a member (4) 8 See 27 down (5) 9 ___ Higgins: Late Belfast snooker champ (4) 10 Female pig (3) 11 Tasty breakfast cake (6) 12 New novel by Jonathan Franzen (7) 14 (& 48 across) Late Patricia Neal was married to this children’s author (5) 19 See 18 across (5) 23 Church dressing room (6) 26 Popular liquid measure (4) 27 (& 8 down) This Mary will be Grand Marshal for the 2011 NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade (7) 28 See 13 across (7)

Win a subscription to Irish America magazine Please send your completed crossword puzzle to Irish America, 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001, to arrive no later than December 31, 2010. A winner will be drawn from among all correct entries. If there are no correct solutions, the prize will be awarded for the completed puzzle which comes closest in the opinion of our staff. Winner’s name will be published along with the solution in our next issue. Xerox copies are acceptable.

Winner of the October/November Crossword: Catherine Winger, Scranton, PA 106 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

29 This battle took place in 1601 (7) 30 Irish Christmas (7) 32 Cell phone on the move in Ireland (6) 35 Irish for shop (5) 37 Tasty way to serve potatoes (6) 39 See 47 across (4) 40 Juliette Lewis movie: Natural ___ Killers (4) 42 Ireland’s toxic bank (1, 1, 1, 1) 44 Foot digit (3) 46 Morning drink (1,1)

October/November Solution

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{those we lost} Leo Cullum

as the Sullivan Law. Herzog is survived by two children from her first marriage, two stepchildren, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Her husband of 44 years, Haskell Shapiro, died last year. – K.R.

1942-2010

A cartoonist at The New Yorker for over 30 years, Leo Cullum succumbed to cancer after a fiveyear battle on October 23 at his home in Malibu. He was 68.

Much of what would become Cullum’s iconic cartooning began in airport terminals. A full-time TWA pilot for 34 years, Cullum

Daniel Kelly 1928-2010

The issue of The New Yorker that came out immediately after the September 11 attacks carried no cartoons, but Cullum’s was the first cartoon that the magazine’s readers saw the following week when the above cartoon appeared on Page 6 under the list of contributors.

would draw during layovers and on days off. Cullum sold his first cartoon to Air Line Pilot magazine. He received rejections from The New Yorker for some time before finally breaking the binding and making the pages in 1977. He would contribute 819 cartoons to the magazine before his death, his last appearing in the October 25 issue.

Cullum, according to his brother, Thomas, who spoke to Roz Chast at The New Yorker, had been funny since he was a little kid. “At the dinner table one night during a summer vacation when Leo was seven and Thomas nine, their father complained that his stomach had got a little sunburned. Leo said, ‘Well, you know, Dad, things that are closest to the sun burn first.’”

Fortunately, his father laughed.

Leo attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduation he served in the Marine Corps. He flew in over 200 missions during Vietnam. In addition to his brother Thomas, Cullum is survived by his wife of 31 years, Kathy Cullum, as well as his two daughters, Kaitlin and Kimberly, and son-in-law Marcus Berry.

– T.D. 108 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

Patricia Herzog 1922-2010

Born Patricia Reid Chamberlain in Japan, Herzog came to the United States at age ten. She worked at a California factory building Hellcats and torpedo bombers during WWII, and moved to Santa Ana with her first husband, Charles Herzog, in the 1950s. They divorced in 1960.

In the early 1950s, Herzog was working as a newspaper reporter when she signed up for law classes through Chicago’s LaSalle Extension University.

She passed the bar in 1957, and by 1960 led her own practice.

In 1978, Herzog took a case that turned out to set a precedent in California marital law. Janet Sullivan was seeking part of the value of her husband’s medical practice in their divorce, on the grounds that she was working as an accountant while her husband attended medical school. California’s lower courts ruled against her, but Herzog filed an appeal in 1982 with the California Supreme Court.

In 1985, California’s marital property law was amended to authorize courts to reimburse divorcing individuals for supporting their spouses, in what was known

Daniel Kelly, president of Kelly’s Furniture, died on October 14 at age 82 after a short illness. One of the seven children born to Patrick and Mary Furey Kelly, he was born in Brooklyn but raised in Frosses, Co. Donegal, where he graduated from the Christian Brothers Academy. Kelly served in the U.S. Army during the occupation of Germany after WWII. He spent much of the remainder of his life in Westchester. In 1959, Kelly and his brothers founded Kelly’s Furniture, one of the leading furniture retailers in the Metro NY and Westchester area. Kelly’s decision to place his store in the South Bronx helped revitalize the area and sustain it during rough times. Kelly used his own brand of hire purchase to enable his clients, many of whom were Hispanic, to buy their furniture on a payment plan. He was much respected as businessman and employer.

Of his many honors, he was most proud of being named Man of the Year by the Hispanic community.

Kelly received several Papal Knighthoods from Pope John Paul II, including Knight Commander of Malta,

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the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher, the Order of Saint Sylvester and the Royal Savoy Orders of Maurice and Lazarus. He was the past president of the Donegal Association of NY and a member of the AOH. He is survived by family members including his brother and business partner Clyde, three nieces and four great-nieces. – P.H.

Boat and The Untouchables. It was his work alongside Clint Eastwood in 1968’s Hang ’Em High that caught Hawaii FiveO creator Leonard Freeman’s eye.

MacArthur is survived by his wife Helen Beth Duntz, four children and seven grandchildren. – K.R.

Maurice Neligan 1937-2010

Groundbreaking cardiac surgeon Maurice Neligan, pictured below, who pioneered Ireland’s first coronary bypass graft operation in 1974 and its first heart transplant in 1985, died October 15 at the age of 73 at his home in Dublin. Neligan also led the development of open-heart surgery in children, and over the course of his career performed approximately 14,000 to 15,000 open-heart surgeries, many of them on children. He served as consultant cardiac surgeon at Dublin’s Mater Hospital from 1971 until 2009, and at Crumlin Children’s Hospital from 1974 to 2002. He was a founder of the Blackrock Clinic. After his retirement, he remained involved in the medical community.

Neligan’s funeral mass was held October 19 at the Church of the Assumption in Dublin. He is survived by his wife Pat, also a doctor, three sons, and three daughters. A fourth daughter, Sara, was murdered in 2007. – K.R.

James MacArthur 1937-2010

Actor James MacArthur, who played Detective Danny “Danno” Williams in the TV series Hawaii Five-O, died October 28 in Florida at age 72. For 11 of the show’s 12 years, from 1968-1980, MacArthur played the sidekick to Jack Lord’s Detective Steve McGarrett, who consistently uttered the show’s catchphrase, “Book ’im, Danno!” when the criminal was caught. He left the show in 1979.

Born in Los Angeles in 1937, MacArthur was adopted at seven months old by playwright Charles MacArthur and his wife, the actress Helen Hayes, with whom MacArthur acted in one episode of Hawaii Five-O. He appeared in the 1955 TV production of John Frankenheimer’s Deal a Blow, then in its big screen 1959 remake The Young Stranger. MacArthur acted in Disney movies Kidnapped and Swiss Family Robinson, as well as TV shows Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Love

Vincent Nolan and Hugh Carey

and continued under President Johnson.

Apart from his love of fish, Vincent also had a passion for music and golf. He played piano with Hoagy Carmichael, and was a lifelong Frank Sinatra fan.

Each year, Sinatra received a batch of Nolan’s salmon on his birthday.

Vincent’s passion for Sinatra was shared by his good friend the former governor of New York Hugh Carey, as was his passion for golf. He also counted Mutual of America’s chairman emeritus Bill Flynn among his golfing buddies and close friends. One golfing story that made the rounds is of the time Vincent played with the actor Sean Connery. Vincent matched the Scotsman shot for shot, but his short game, chipping in particular, let him down.

Vincent hated to lose and Connery decided to rub salt in the wounds. “I hear you’re in the fish business,” he said.

“Yes, I am,” replied Vincent. Connery thought for a moment, then turned away to walk towards the clubhouse while saying, “Well I hope your fish is better than your chips!”

Vincent, who was preceded in death by his wife Yvonne, is survived by his sons Harry, Edward, George, Vincent and David, grandchildren and great grandchildren, his close friend Kay, relatives and friends. – PH

William Norton 1925-2010

Vincent Nolan 1926-2010

Hollywood screenwriter William Norton died Oct 1 at age 85 of a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California. He enjoyed a successful career writing feature films starring John Wayne, Burt

Vincent Nolan “The Salmon King,” passed away on October 22, 2010. He was 87.

A much-loved Dublin character, Vincent took over Nolan’s Irish Seafood from his father Harry, a Belfast fish salesman, and turned it into an international brand distributed to over 20 countries. Nolan’s smoked salmon even found its way to the White House where it was served for official functions, a tradition that began in the Kennedy administration DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 109

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{those we lost} Charlie O’Donnell warming up the Wheel of Fortune studio audience.

Lancaster and Angie Dickinson, including 1968’s The Scalphunters and 1975’s Brannigan. Born in Utah, Norton was interested in his Irish ancestry and moved there in 1985, where he became directly involved in religious conflicts in Northern Ireland. He and his wife Eleanor shipped guns purchased in California to France, intending to help Catholics defend their homes, but were arrested in France. Norton was imprisoned for two years, then moved to Nicaragua with his wife to avoid charges in the United States for illegal exportation. Their home in Nicaragua was invaded by robbers, one of whom Norton shot and killed, but no charges were filed.

Norton, a former Communist Party member, moved to Cuba in the early 1990s, then traveled to Mexico, from where his first wife, Betty, and their daughter Sally successfully smuggled him across the border into Los Angeles.

He spent his final years in Santa Barbara, painting and continuing to exercise his passion for social activism through writing letters to politicians.

Norton is survived by his son Bill, daughters Sally and Joan, wife Eleanor, their adopted daughter Teresa, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. – K.R.

Charlie O’Donnell 1932-2010

Charlie O’Donnell, whose off-screen voice was a definitive aspect of American television in shows like Wheel of Fortune, To Tell the Truth and American Bandstand, as well as the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Golden Globes, died on November 1 at his home in California. He was 78.

O’Donnell was born in Philadelphia in 1932 and began his career on radio as a teenager at WCHA in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He began working in television as the announcer for American Bandstand in 1958. He went on to become a disc jockey and news anchor in Los Angeles, then served as an announcer for the Rolling Stones and the Beatles during 1960’s California performances.

However, O’Donnell was best known for voicing the audience warmup, opening announcement, and commentary during Wheel of Fortune from 1988 until October 29, 2010. O’Donnell is survived 110 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

by his wife Ellen, two sons, two daughters, and two grandchildren. – K.R.

Bill Shannon 1941-2010

Baseball historian Bill Shannon died early on October 26 in a house fire in West Caldwell, N.J. Neighbors reported that Shannon’s 92-year-old mother, Mildred, was rescued through the front door, but Shannon was unable to break the window on the second floor to escape. He was 69 years old.

A veteran sportswriter for the Associated Press and official scorer for decades of Mets and Yankees games, Shannon began as an official scorer for the American League in 1979. He graduated from Columbia University and served in the Army, then served as head of PR for Madison Square Garden from 1965-1973. An editor of The Official Encyclopedia of Tennis of the United States Tennis Association, Shannon was also the author of The Ballparks, a history of major league baseball stadiums.

– K.R.

Ray Sheeran 1956-2010

Michael Raphael “Ray” Sheeran passed away in the care of his family and friends in Cazadero, CA on November 14 after an eight-month battle with Melanoma. He was 54.

A passionate sportsman, Sheeran won many medals and trophies with his local hurling club, Camross, and his county team Laois. He also played rugby with Portlaoise, and soccer with The Pike of Rushall.

Sheeran was born October 23, 1956 in Coolrain, Mountrath, Co. Laois. He emigrated to San Francisco in February 1982 and married Catherine, his wife of 26 years, in San Francisco in 1984. They had known each other from home in Mountrath.

Sheeran played hurling with the Rangers Hurling Club and was a founding member of Na Fianna Hurling Club, which became one of the most successful clubs in North America. Sheeran played his part in winning their first Senior Championship in 1990. He was also a founding member of San Francisco Irish RFC, which subsequently merged with the San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club and developed one of the best underage programs in the USA. SFGG Rugby Club has renamed their Home Club and Grounds as The Ray Sheeran Field.

Sheeran is survived by his wife Catherine, their sons Ryan and Eoin and their daughter Maeve, and by his mother Maura, three brothers and four sisters. IA – K.R.

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{the last word}

The Irish Economy is on the

Brink of Disaster John Spain writes on the bank bailout that bankrupted the nation.

T

the only economist in Ireland to see early on that we were headed for disaster was the youngish professor of economics at University College Dublin, Morgan Kelly. I remember that while everyone else was talking soft landings, Kelly was predicting the mother and father of all crashes, not just for the property market but for the whole economy.

He was accused at the time (at the very start of the property slide) of being ridiculous, alarmist, a scare-mongering Jeremiah.

He was laughed at, even sneered at, by other financial experts who regarded him as a maverick.

A view of him as an isolated mad professor gained some traction because Kelly rarely appeared on radio and TV to defend his prophesies of doom. Instead, once every six months or so, he would write a piece for The Irish Times, always predicting new depths of disaster.

Well, those who laughed at him then are strangely silent now. It turned out, as we now know, that he was exactly right.

He wasn’t the only one. There were a few others saying the soft landing was going to be harder than we realized. But Kelly was the only one to predict the gigantic scale of the disaster that has befallen us.

Last May, for example, he wrote another “the end is nigh” piece for The Irish Times. This one predicted that the blanket guarantee given by the Irish state to Irish banks would bankrupt the country.

This provoked fury at official level and he was called irresponsible. Government ministers warned about the dangers of selffulfilling prophecy and said we needed to keep a balance in our comment to avoid spooking the markets.

What Kelly was suggesting was crazy, wasn’t it? The banking crisis couldn’t actually make the whole country bankrupt, could it?

After staying quiet all summer, the mad professor was at it again a week ago with another lengthy analysis piece in The Irish Times on where we’re at right now, six months after his last tract of doom.

Given that he’s been right all along, it’s fair to say that this was the most widely read piece of financial writing here in the past year. It was treated a bit like Moses coming down from the mountain with the message on the tablets of stone.

So what was Jeremiah Kelly saying this time? Well, he said that his statement six months ago that the bank bailout would bankrupt the nation had now been proved true, and that it had happened much faster than even he had imagined.

The problem of the billions borrowed and lost by the big Irish developers was bad, he said. But even worse was going to be the tsunami of bad debt that was going to hit the banks as tens of thousands of people here defaulted on their mortgages in the coming months and years.

112 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

The notion that we were turning the corner was wishful thinking, he said. Instead we are going bankrupt at an ever-increasing rate.

Our bust banks have dragged us into an abyss that keeps getting bigger and bigger. The final cost of bailing out our banks is now going to be at least 70 billion euro, he said, not the 50 billion euro we had been talking about.

This huge black hole in the banks means that the money markets do not want to lend to us anymore, either to our banks or to the Irish state.

Every time we say we’re on top of the situation it gets even worse. We’ve not only run out of money, we’re run out of credibility.

We are, in effect, bankrupt.

Pretty soon, Kelly said at the end of his piece last week, the only thing we will be able to rely on will be the kindness of strangers.

This was a rather poetic way of saying that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and/or the EU would soon be in here to bail us out, take over the running of the Irish economy and stop us becoming a totally failed state, where services grind to a halt.

Complete nonsense, the government said. Kelly’s latest article was again dismissed as being way too pessimistic.

That was just over a week ago. As I write this, the latest word is that we are indeed on the brink of national bankruptcy.

A meeting in Brussels tonight (Tuesday, November 16) of finance ministers from all the countries in the EU will decide our future. It seems that Kelly was right yet again, and the speed with which events are now unfolding here is dizzying.

The official line is that the government has not requested help either from the EU or the IMF, but that meetings with “our partners in Europe” are taking place.

But the game is up. Newspapers across the EU this morning ran headlines about Ireland being on the brink, about the need to rescue our economy without further delay before we endanger the future of the euro.

And that is the core of the crisis. It’s no longer just an Irish problem.

If we go down, then Portugal and possibly Spain will follow, and that will mean the end of the euro, the European currency. It’s that serious.

The problem, as Kelly said, is the blanket guarantee given by the Irish government to our banks, which is now dragging the country into insolvency.

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No one will lend to the banks here except the European Central Bank, and the other European countries who fund the ECB are now deeply concerned at how much this is costing. The Irish banks are eating up so much ECB funding that there won’t be enough to help other countries in trouble.

The secondary market price of 10-year Irish government bonds has eased from 9 percent to 8 percent over the past couple of

Increasingly, other countries in Europe are asking why they should pour even more funds into the Irish banks when there is still no bottom to the black hole in sight.

And an even bigger problem for us now is the collateral damage this situation is causing to Europe. It’s quite clear that, in spite of what the Irish government is saying about not needing a national bailout, the EU wants us to take EU/IMF funding right now and

days, but this is still a rate that makes state borrowing impossible.

So we’re not in the market. We have enough funds to keep going until the middle of next year, as the government keeps saying, but that does not mean we’re okay.

Because of our huge budget deficit we will have to go back into the market next year to sell bonds to raise the money to pay our bills later in the year. The hope is that by severely slashing spending in the budget in three weeks, the markets will be convinced that we are on the right track and will drop the rates back to 5 percent or so.

But it’s far from certain that will happen. Equally far from certain is where Irish banks can get more funds to keep going.

The Irish Central Bank has printed around 30 billion euro of paper to fund them over the past year or so, and that can’t go on.

sort out the problem before it gets any worse and before it drags other weak countries down as well.

Sources in Brussels say that behind the scenes the EU is putting severe pressure on the Irish government to immediately accept around 70 billion in EU/IMF funding. The government is still saying no because of the loss of economic sovereignty involved, which will mean IMF people telling us what cuts to make, taxes to raise, etc.

We will know more tomorrow, after tonight’s meeting of EU finance ministers. But Ireland is definitely on the brink this IA week.

Reprinted from the Irish Voice newspater, November 17, 2010. For daily updates on the crisis in Ireland log on to IrishCentral.com DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011 IRISH AMERICA 113

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{photo album} Family Pictures

Rockaway 1953 T

his shot was taken at New York’s Rockaway Beach on 115th Street, what was then the heart of the Irish Riviera. Irish immigrants flocked here for a day at the beach, followed by Playland and an evening on the boardwalk. Lucky Irish families came here to spend their summer vacations, staying in boarding houses, usually in one room sharing a communal kitchen, bathroom and outdoor shower.

Rockaway was a great place to meet people from “home,” swim in the ocean and soak in the sun.

Unfortunately, many of those just off the boat landed in the emergency room with 3rd degree burns – the sun on the Rockaway side of the Atlantic far more unforgiving than the sun on their native side.

In this picture, my sister Eleanor is on the left, my sister Kathleen is on my mother’s lap and I’m in the center. A week earlier, we had taken the three-hour, two-fare subway ride from the northwest Bronx carrying cartons of clothes, pots and towels for our Rockaway room. My father looks healthy and rested, apparently recovered from working nights as a bartender in Manhattan where he stood for eight hours straight. (The recently released 1911 Irish census told us that my father was older than we thought: it seems his father lopped three years off his son’s age to avoid possible conscription into the British army.

He was 52 when this picture was taken, not 49 as we originally believed.) My mother, a Co. Monaghan native, came from a fair, blue-eyed family who never took the sun – or, for that matter, wore low-cut bathing suits – but she managed to get as tan as her husband and children, forgoing products such as Coppertone, Noxzema and sun hats.

We sometimes stayed in the home of our cousins, Bridie and John Duignan who, like my father, were from Co. Longford. On weekends our families went to 103rd Street, Irishtown, the hotbed of Rockaway nightlife where the

dancehalls were named after counties – Leitrim House, Sligo House, Dublin House, etc. The entertainers – the McNulty Family, starring handsome tenor Peter McNulty, Ruthie Morrissey and Mickey Carton – traveled up and down 103rd Street spending time in each hall, the longer their visit, the greater their fee. Peter McNulty became something of a headliner drawing the largest crowds despite persistent rumors that he wore a girdle under his flashy plaid cummerbund. Queens corner boys, like my husband Bob, preferred the nearby bar, Gilday’s, where the eponymous owner would ask a misbehaving customer to step outside. Once on the boardwalk, Mr. Gilday’s 320 pounds would assume a John L. Sullivan pose as he prepared to challenge the ruffian. Bob never saw Mr. Gilday lose a single fight…and he saw lots of them.

Irishtown Saturday nights became known for the standing army of cops and paddywagons that parked in the center of the street.

But mostly it was a quiet time. My parents, the Duignan’s, other boarders, our cousins, the “greenhorns” and those just passing by, would drop by and rock back and forth to the spoken refrain on the porch, “There’s no IA place like Rockaway!”

– Submitted by Rosemary Rogers

Please send photographs along with your name, address, phone number, and a brief description, to Sheila Lnagan at Irish America, 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001. If photos are irreplaceable, then please send a good quality reproduction or e-mail the picture at 300 dpi resolution to Irishamag@aol.com. No photocopies, please. We will pay $65 for each submission that we select.

114 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2011

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