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In Remembrance Corporate chieftains, innovative football
coaches, entertainment stars, political movers and musical pioneers –
each of the following brought their skill, passion and talent to the world,
and they will be missed.
Ed Brennan
Edward Brennan joined Sears, Roebuck Corporation in 1956 as a salesman
in its Madison, Wisconsin store and quickly rose through the ranks. In
1984 he became president and COO and served as CEO from 1986 to 1995.
After some bad years in the 80s, in 1994 under Brennan’s leadership
the company reported record earnings. That same year, Brennan was honored
as one of Irish America’s Business 100.
Brennan, a fourth-generation Irish-American, went on to serve on the board
of the AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, McDonald’s,
and 3M. Brennan died on December 27, 2007. He is survived by his wife,
Lois, their six children, and 19 grandchildren.
Bob Callahan Publisher, editor, poet and author, Bob Callahan passed away on February 4,
2008 at his home in Berkeley, California. Callahan, who was immensely
proud of his heritage, edited The Big Book of Irish American Culture,
A Day in the Life of Ireland and the short-lived but long-remembered Callahan’s
Irish Quarterly.
Callahan was also well known for compiling anthologies on comic books,
including The New Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Stories: From Crumb to
Clowes and The New Comics.
He was a long-time collaborator with artist Spain Gonzalez; the two worked
on the web comic Dark Hotel which appeared on salon.com. They also produced
work for the LA Weekly.
Callahan, who was also president of the Before Columbus Foundation, is
survived by his wife Eileen.
Richard C. Casey Richard Conway Casey was the nation’s first blind federal judge. He
served on the United States District Court in Manhattan. Despite his disability,
Casey ruled over some important cases during his career, including the
trial of Mafia boss Peter Gotti.
In the early sixties, Casey was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a
degenerative condition which resulted in his losing his sight in 1987.
However, his judicial career did not suffer and Casey was nominated to
become a United States District Judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Casey used a guide dog to get around and was known as a judge who did
not mince his words. He died on March 22, 2007 aged 74.
 David
Ervine
It is fitting in an issue in which we honor the many who helped bring peace
to Northern Ireland that we remember David Ervine, a former paramilitary
turned politician, who died of a heart attack on January 8, 2007. He was
53.
A former member of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ervine was arrested and
imprisoned in 1974 for possession of explosives. After his release in
1980 he worked as a grocer before standing for local council elections
in 1985 for the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP). Ervine, a supporter
of the Good Friday Agreement, played a significant role in brokering the
Loyalist ceasefire in 1994. He was elected to the Northern Ireland assembly
in 1998 and became leader of the PUP in 2002. He is survived by his wife
Jeanette and two sons, who established The David Ervine Foundation to
enable disadvantaged children and youths to reach their full potential.
 Merv
Griffin
How business legend Merv Griffin was perhaps best known for his TV talk
show from the 1960s and 1970s. He also developed two of the most famous
game shows of all time: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
Born July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California, Griffin was playing piano
by age 4. In his teens he found a musical outlet at his parish church
when he joined the choir. By the 1950s he was a popular singer on the
radio.
During his lifetime, Merv was a musician, talk show host, prodigious TV
producer, hotel mogul and even became a successful owner in the world
of horse racing. Among his horses was one named Cee’s Irish, trained
by Doug O’Neil. Griffin loved Ireland and especially Co. Galway
where he bought and restored to its former splendor, St. Cleran’s,
the manor home once owned by director John Huston. Griffin died in Los
Angeles in August, 2007. He had prostate cancer and was aged 82. He is
survived by his son Tony and two grandchildren.
 Tommy
Makem
Irish traditional music lost one of its pioneers in 2007 with the passing
of Tommy Makem on August 1. Never did anyone do so much to globalize Irish
traditional music as Makem who through his collaborations with the Clancy
brothers and later as a solo artist, became famous throughout the world.
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem hit the big time on the Ed Sullivan
Show in 1961. Tommy left the Clancys in 1969 to pursue a solo career,
but reunited with Liam Clancy in 1975. They toured and recorded together
until 1988. Among Makem’s best-known compositions were “Four
Green Fields,” Gentle Annie,” “Red is the Rose”
and “The Rambles of Spring.” Not only a master musician, he
was also a noted poet and storyteller.
Even when ill with lung cancer, his love of Irish culture was undiminished.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.
James Moran Millionaire car dealer and philanthropist James “Jim” Moran died
on April 24, 2007. He was 88, and the only car dealer to ever grace the
cover of Time magazine.
Born in Chicago, Moran bought a gas station in 1939, and later a used
car lot. He went on to become a dealer for Hudson and Ford.
In the 1960s, Moran was diagnosed with terminal cancer and moved to Florida
to retire. He recovered and was contacted by Toyota to sell their cars
in the South. He founded Southeast Toyota Distributors (SET) and today
it sells about 20 percent of all Toyotas sold in the United States.
In his later life, Moran spent a great deal of time on philanthropic
projects, and before he died he founded the Jim Moran Foundation to help
disadvantaged youth in Florida get a good start in life.
Dick Nolan Dick Nolan was a former player and coach in the NFL who led the San
Francisco 49ers to two Western Conference title games during his time
as manager from 1968-75. A former player who plied his trade for 11 seasons
as cornerback and safety for the New York Giants (where he won the NFL
championship in ’56), the then Chicago (now Arizona) Cardinals and
the Dallas Cowboys, Nolan spent eight years as an assistant to Hall of
Fame coach Tom Landry.
Ironically, it was to Landry’s Cowboys that Nolan lost both times
he led his team to the conference title games. Nolan, who was ill for
a time, died on November 11. He is survived by his wife and six children.
Nolan’s son Mike is currently the head coach of the 49ers.
 Bill
Walsh
Bill Walsh transformed the San Francisco 49ers into the dominant franchise
of the 1980s and early 1990s, with a great offense and a quarterback named
Joe Montana.
During his tenure, Walsh won three Super Bowls. The team went on to win
two more Super Bowls using many of the same players and the “West
Coast offense” Walsh had established, which focused heavily on using
the quarterback to pass the ball rather than relying on running the football.
Walsh was diagnosed with leukemia in 2004 and died at his home in Woodside,
California on July 30, 2007. He had been working as a coach and athletic
director at Stanford University.
 Michael
Yeats
The death of William Michael Yeats, son of the great Irish poet W.B.,
on January 3, 2007 was a loss not only to the Irish but to scholars and
Yeats devotees around the world. A member of the Fianna Fáil party,
Yeats served in the Irish Senate for 20 years and was one of Ireland’s
first members of the European Parliament.
In 1999 he published his political memoirs Cast a Cold Eye. Yeats was
involved in a number of events and exhibitions at the National Library
and the Yeats Summer School in Sligo. Yeats is survived by his wife, Gráinne
and their four children. He was 86. His only sibling, Anne Butler Yeats,
died in 2001.
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