The businessman, rugby star and philanthropist Tony O’Reilly was a “true Irish legend” who inspired people to think bigger, his funeral has been told.
Mourners were told that Mr O’Reilly had lived a “dazzlingly full life” that was anything but mundane.
Ireland’s deputy premier Micheal Martin was among those who attended the service in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook, Dublin for Mr O’Reilly, who died on Saturday at the age of 88.
President Michael D Higgins was represented by his Aide de Camp.
He later became one of Ireland’s leading business figures, pioneering the dairy brand Kerrygold, becoming president and chairman of food giant Heinz and taking control of Independent Newspapers.
He was also known for his philanthropy, setting up The Ireland Funds, which gave money from US donors into reconciliation projects around the Irish border.
He said: “Despite the diverse, colourful, often fast-moving and no doubt distracting world he moved in so comfortably for much of the time, was never ashamed of the religion he was raised in.”
He added: “In his almost 90 years, Tony O’Reilly lived many lives; gifted and graced as he was in so many ways and in a life often wonderfully anything but mundane.
“It was a truly, at many times, dazzlingly full life.”
“Every emotion crammed into those 88 years.”
He said the family had been overwhelmed by thousands of messages of tribute in recent days.
He said the tributes reflected that his father had been “a giant of sport, of business, of media, who left permanent legacies in all three”.
He added: “A trailblazer who forged a path that others would follow.
“A titanic figure who lit up every room that he entered. A true Irish legend.
“He was all of those things and more.
“For years, people have tried to sum up, to uncover the secret sauce of what made Tony Tony – the rugby sensation, the raconteur extraordinaire, the high-flying business executive, the architect and driver of the literally lifesaving Ireland Funds.
“And what was it like living in his shadow? Very dark.”
“The truth is, as we see it, he saw no limits to what he could achieve.
“Where people saw obstacles, he saw opportunities and he almost always went for the gap – whether on the rugger field or in the boardroom.
“And when he did achieve these extraordinary feats, he has inspired so many people, not just here in Ireland, but elsewhere in the world, to be bigger, to think bolder and to never have to accept second place.”
A number of figures from the sporting, business and media worlds attended the funeral.
Mr O’Reilly is survived by his six children and 23 grandchildren.
