The funeral of Irish businessman Tony O'Reilly was held in Dublin today, Thursday, May 23.
O'Reilly, who died at the age of 88 on May 18 following a short illness, was a "true Irish legend," mourners heard at his funeral at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook on Thursday morning.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin was in attendance at Thursday's funeral mass in addition to President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins's Aide de Camp and representatives for Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Fr. Bruce Bradley, who delivered the funeral service, said O'Reilly had lived a "dazzlingly full life."
"Despite the diverse, colorful, 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," Fr. Bradley said during the homily on Thursday morning.
"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."
May 23, 2024: The funeral of Tony O'Reilly. (RollingNews.ie)
O'Reilly's son Cameron said his father's life was full of "highs and lows, of ebbs and flows" and "every emotion crammed into those 88 years."
Cameron O'Reilly told mourners that his family had been "overwhelmed" by messages from thousands of people since news broke of his father's death.
He described his father as a "trailblazer" who forged paths for other people to follow and a "titanic figure who lit up every room that he entered".
"He was all of those things and more," Cameron said during Thursday's funeral.
"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."
Born in Dublin in 1936, O'Reilly represented the Irish rugby team at the age of 19 and became the youngest player in history to earn a cap for the British and Irish Lions.
In the business world, O'Reilly pioneered the dairy brand Kerrygold in addition to taking control of Independent Newspapers and becoming president and chairman of Heinz.
He also set up the Ireland Funds, which raised money for reconciliation projects in Northern Ireland.
O'Reilly is survived by six children and 23 grandchildren. He will be cremated at a private ceremony on Friday.
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