Long-time University College Dublin politics professor and author Tom Garvin has died after a short illness.
Prof Garvin taught generations of UCD students having graduated from the university himself with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and politics and a Master of Arts degree in politics.
After 41 years of working at the institution, he retired from lecturing duties in August 2008, becoming emeritus professor.
Prof Garvin obtained a doctorate from the University of Georgia in 1974. He became professor of politics at UCD in 1991 and served as head of department until 2005. He was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2003.
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He wrote widely on 20th-century Irish politics, including the revolutionary period and the post-independence nation. His academic work included dozens of articles, book chapters and books.
Prof Garvin retired in 2008 after working for four decades in what became the UCD School of Politics and International Relations.
Colleagues and former students paid tribute on social media. Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway described him as “the best lecturer in the world”, while Brigid Laffan, emeritus professor at the Robert Schuman Institute, said he was a “major contributor to the establishment of political science in Ireland”.
Business Post editor Daniel McConnell described him as “unorthodox, mischievous and unbelievably smart”, while the Irish Studies department at Boston College, where he worked for a period, said Prof Garvin was “an outspoken public intellectual, an inspirational teacher and a marvellous raconteur”.
He died on Thursday after a short illness. He is survived by his wife Máire, children and grandchildren. His funeral is to be held in the Church of the Holy Cross, Dundrum, on Monday.
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