The former businessman, international rugby player and chief executive of Independent News & Media (INM) died in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin on Saturday at the age of 88.
His peer and businessman Michael Smurfit paid tribute to Mr O’Reilly as a contemporary and competitor.
“Nobody loved life like Tony and nobody lived life like Tony. While we were contemporaries and, in some respects, competitors, I have profound respect for his many achievements,” he said.
“Such achievements will be well documented and there is little point in my repeating them except to say that they were, quite literally, without parallel. Outstanding characters like Tony don’t come around very often. When they are gone, they are missed all the more.”
Tony O’Reilly and his wife Chryss at the opening of the O’Reilly Room in Belevdere Rugby Club in Dublin in 2018. Photo: David Conachy
President Michael D Higgins said Mr O’Reilly’s contribution to Irish life in terms of “utilising the Irish diaspora at a time of Ireland’s difficulties, through the Ireland Funds and the impact which that made on a North/south basis” would be at the top of the list of achievements remembered by many.
“The leadership he gave in that action was at a time when Ireland needed to draw on all of the contacts and friends that it had.”
He referenced Mr O’Reilly’s innovations, including in “the ever tumultuous space that constituted newspaper ownership at home and abroad” and his personal commitment to Waterford Crystal.
Mr O’Reilly was “a man of great personal charm” who used that gift for significant philanthropy during his lifetime, Mr Higgins said.
“His life was, by any measure, a full one and he will be missed by all of those who knew him. I send my sympathies to his family.”
Taoiseach Simon Harris called Mr O’Reilly “a giant of sport, business and media” who left a lasting legacy and “forged a path that many other international business figures from Ireland would follow”.
Caitriona Fottrell, the chief executive of the Ireland Funds, said the organisation mourns the death of its co-founder and that the greatest tribute it could offer was to “continue the work he started almost fifty years ago”.
“Countless lives have been improved and the extent of Tony’s philanthropic reach may never be fully known,” she said.
“His boundless charisma, charm, and joy for life will never be forgotten and created a fellowship within the Ireland Funds that endures today.”
Mr O’Reilly was the first chief executive of An Bord Bainne – now known as Ornua – and was responsible for creating the Kerrygold brand in 1962.
The current board of directors described him as a “trailblazer” and one of the most important figures in Irish business history, while Ibec chief Danny McCoy said Kerrygold was an “incredible” success story of Irish business.
The IRFU described the record-breaking player as “a legend of the game” and hero of the British and Irish Lions, who was first capped for Ireland at 18 and went on to win 29 in total.
