Barry Buttimer:BARRY BUTTIMER, who has died aged 65, was a former president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, an ex-fighter pilot in Vietnam and a prime mover in the Cork campaign in the 1980s to save Murphy's Brewery.
A larger-than-life figure with a ready laugh, he revelled in the company of others and for 30 years ran Canty's Bar on Pembroke Street, one of Cork city's most popular pubs.
A rugby fan, he was vice-president of Old Christians club, a connection going back many years through Canty's. And as a keen punter, he liked nothing better than a day's outing to a race meeting.
Originally from Coppeen in west Cork, where he grew up on the family farm, he attended the local national school before going on to secondary school in Macroom. At 17, following a long line of Buttimers who had emigrated to America, he left for San Francisco with an aunt who was returning to the States after visiting the home place.
Like many an emigrant, Buttimer was determined to get on in America and attended night school. Drafted into the US Air Corps during the Vietnam war, he became a fighter pilot. He engaged in many sorties and was decorated for bravery on a number of occasions, but it was a subject he seldom talked about.
Serendipity struck when he returned to Ireland in the summer of 1970 to give away his sister, Mary, on her marriage to Paddy Creedon of Inchegeela. At the wedding, he met Paddy's sister, Noreen, his future wife.
In June 1971, a year after returning to complete his service in Vietnam, he returned to Ireland to marry Noreen and for seven years they ran the family farm at Coppeen before selling the land and buying Canty's Bar in 1978.
As a publican, he became deeply involved in the battle waged by local vintners to save Murphy's Brewery in the 1980s. Founded in 1856 by a "merchant prince" family that made its fortune in importing, tanning, distilling, and brewing, its fortunes had dwindled and by the 1970s the brewery was facing closure.
With 300 jobs at stake and investment for modernisation urgently needed, a group of publicans raised the money to buy out the brewery in 1980. Part of their objective was to maintain competition in the local stout market. But as the company's difficulties persisted, it quickly became obvious that deeper pockets were needed.
As Buttimer later recalled "four of us went to Amsterdam in 1982 at our own expense, and met the Heineken people who were very responsive".
They were vindicated when Heineken Ireland took over Murphy's the following year.
Regaining traditional export markets, stout from the historic brewery at Lady's Well on the north side of the Lee began to reach worldwide consumers.
"It was still a Cork company but with an international dimension," said Buttimer.
"What made it better was that we got the news about Heineken at Christmas time and, as you can imagine, there were great celebrations. Murphy's went through some hard times but the people of Cork stood by them."
Never forgetting his Coppeen roots, the political landscape held a deep interest for him. When a general election was coming up, he would pack his bags and head for the hustings, spending weeks in west Cork canvassing for his close friend Joe Walsh, the former Fianna Fáil TD and minister for agriculture.
Taking up flying again, Buttimer regained his pilot's licence and for several years he flew light aircraft in Cork. He was involved in charitable work, particularly Edel House, a centre for battered wives. He died peacefully at his home on the Model Farm Road and is survived by his wife Noreen, daughter Eileen and sons Gerard, Conor, and Kieran. He was predeceased by his eldest son Pat.
Barry Buttimer: born July 14th, 1943; died November 1st, 2008