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| Dr Brendan O’Regan Hear our industry’s founder talk about the Shannon Airport years 1950-1958, and the early days of duty free – with thanks to Shannon Development |
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IRELAND. Tributes are flowing in to the founder of our industry, Dr Brendan O’Regan, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 90. Dr O’Regan founded the first airport duty free shops in Shannon, Ireland, beginning with a small kiosk in 1947. His funeral will be held on Monday, 11 February in Ennis, Co. Clare. Details here.
Dubai Duty Free Managing Director Colm McLoughlin told The Moodie Report: “It is a tribute to him that his creations have been emulated several times around the world, and I feel today as I felt on the day my own father died. We have all lost the Father of the industry that has been so good to us, and I will miss him greatly.”
Aer Rianta International Director General Eamon Foley said: “Brendan O Regan’s achievements as an ambassador of peace and an innovator in the business world are well documented and have been recognised by many organisations, universities and governments. He was committed to the Shannon area and demonstrated great vision and entrepeneurial spirit in setting up the first duty free shop in Shannon airport in 1947.
“He worked tirelessly for peace in Ireland which he believed could be achieved through understanding, openess and working together.
“Brendan was a determined man and had a unique ability to win support for his vision and dreams using his infectious passion and focus. He was a modest man and was never interested in personal financial gain or fame. He will always be remembered as a visionary who really did make a difference. May he rest in peace.”
Aer Rianta International-Middle East Managing Director John Sutcliffe said: “Dr O’Regan was a true legend in so many ways and will be remembered by an enormous number of people not only in Ireland but across the world for his intelligence and foresight, but most of all for his love of peace and his lifelong ambition to make the lives of others better, through peace and prosperity.”
Dr O’Regan died peacefully, surrounded by his children, a family member advised The Moodie Report today. Funeral arrangements are still being made, as he died in England and his body will be repatriated to Ireland. The Moodie Report will advise of the funeral arrangements in the coming days.
His death has been greeted with deep sadness in Ireland. President Mary McAleese told national broadcaster RTE: “Dr Brendan O’Regan was a true visionary. [He] leaves a legacy that permeates throughout all levels of economic, social and cultural life in Ireland. His initiation of and involvement in far-sighted projects such as the Shannon Development Company, Co-operation Ireland and the Irish Peace Institute contributed immeasurably towards the confluence of peace, prosperity and partnership we are now witnessing on this island.”
The Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy, said she was saddened to hear of the County Clare man’s passing. “Brendan O’Regan was a truly inspirational figure whose originality, courage and innovation helped establish Ireland as a successful and prosperous nation.
“His achievements as an industrial visionary and peacemaker are unrivalled. He opened up the Shannon area to tourism, industrial development and job creation before establishing the framework for practical co-operation between all peoples on this island.”
Colm McLoughlin said: “I first met Dr O’Regan whilst working at Shannon Duty Free in 1969. He was not only the founder of Shannon Duty Free but he was also instrumental in the creation of Shannon Town, the first new town in Ireland for over a thousand years; he created the Shannon Airport Duty Free Zone; he headed, with great success, the Irish Tourist Board (Bord Failte); and he worked tirelessly all his life, up until the time of his passing, for peace in the north of Ireland. On behalf of everyone at Dubai Duty Free I send my sincere condolences to the O’Regan family.”
Dr Brendan O’Regan’s many achievements included the setting up the world’s first Duty Free Shop at Shannon Airport, the establishment of the Shannon Free Airport Development Company and the founding of Co-operation Ireland – the single largest organisation working in the area of peace and reconciliation in the island of Ireland. He was also recognised as the driving force behind the opening up of the Shannon area to tourism.
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Images from February 2007 when Dr O’Regan’s life and times were honoured at an exhibition in Ennis, Ireland. (Left) Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (left) with Dr O’Regan (centre) and the Mayor of Clare Flan Garvey; (Right) Dr O’Regan: ‘A man for the “˜big idea’; a man of vision and of peace | |
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Left: Dr O’Regan with close friend Breeda McLoughlin, wife of Dubai Duty Free Managing Director Colm McLoughlin who described him today as ‘the Father of the industry’; and (right) with The Moodie Report Deputy Publisher Dermot Davitt | |
“Dr O’Regan’s involvement in and initiation of a vast number of different projects in County Clare, the mid-west region and beyond is a source of pride for people all over Ireland and I am sure his legacy will stand the test of time,” concluded Mayor McCarthy.
Dr O’Regan was born in Sixmilebridge, County Clare in 1917. An exhibition to honour his life’s work was opened at the Clare Museum in Ennis, Ireland in 2007.
‘Pioneer, peacemaker, patriot and empowerer of the people’ – read our recent interview with Dr Brendan O’Regan.
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Dr Brendan O’Regan with Martin Moodie during an interview in Malahide, Dublin in late 2005 |
MARTIN MOODIE WRITES: Dr Brendan O’Regan was synonymous with many things – with regeneration in the Shannon area of west Ireland; with the concept of duty free shopping; with a world-famous Hotel School; with the then pioneering notion of airports as free zones.
Most especially though, he fought tenaciously yet gently for the cause closest to his heart, peace. Peace in Ireland, and peace for the world. In recent times he was a driving force behind a programme known as Mankind Must Manage a World Without War – a remarkable project that has garnered the support of many of the world’s most powerful statesmen, all lending their voice to the call for the better, more humane society that Dr O’Regan believed so firmly in, and which drove him forward to his final day.
The Moodie Report is immensely saddened by the news but honoured to have known him well. In the introduction to our last interview with him in October 2005 we wrote: Dr O’Regan was and is a man for the “˜big idea’. He saw beyond airports being mere people-transporting stations. He saw them as grand meeting places of men and women of all nationalities. He saw the concept of duty free and airport free zones as being fundamental to the development of the airport and tourism business – and as economic lifeblood to regions all around the world.
He recalls the team who followed him in those early days at Shannon: “They recognised their task of creating a new Ireland – a dream that had long filled the hearts of Irish people.”
His last act of kindness to us – and to others – came last year when we asked him to sign a copy of Chuck Feeney’s biography ‘The Billionaire who Wasn’t’ for auctioning at The Smile Train charity dinner in Hong Kong. Of course he did it willingly, but he also arranged for Mr Feeney to sign the book. The signatures of these two great men prompted a remarkable US$23,000 winning bid (appropriately from DFS, the company Mr Feeney founded) – enough to fund 92 cleft operations on children.
Last year we published a book called ‘The World Rovers’ – the story of the Irish influence on the duty free industry worldwide. He wrote the foreword (click here to read), noting: “Achieving peace is not going to happen through protest; it must be the result of organised endeavour. Ireland has a lot to offer the world; the spread of duty free around the world is proof that a single idea can have a global impact.”
Rest in Peace Dr Brendan O’Regan, the greatest World Rover of all.
NOTE: Tributes from the industry, which will be forwarded to Dr O’Regan’s family in England, can be sent to Martin@TheMoodieReport.com or via The Moodie Forum feedback form below. All tributes will be on view on The Moodie Forum on our home page.
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MORE STORIES ON DR BRENDAN O’REGAN
The Smile Train heads towards US$300,000 fund-raising mark – with more to come – 07/10/07
“˜The Billionaire Who Wasn’t’ – The Chuck Feeney story to be revealed in new book – 27/08/07
The World Rovers Online – the story of the Irish influence on global duty free – 23/04/07
