THE JOURNALIST and socialite Terry Keane died on Saturday at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, after a long illness.
She would have celebrated her 69th birthday in September.
Keane was a fashion editor and social chronicler but it was her Keane Edge column in the Sunday Independent, which hinted at a relationship with a powerful political figure, that turned her into a household name.
In 1999, Ms Keane finally revealed that she had had a 27-year affair with the former taoiseach Charles Haughey. She later said that she regretted the hurt caused by the revelations on The Late Late Show.
One of her closest friends, fellow fashion writer Ruth Kelly, said yesterday she was deeply shocked at the death "because I thought she was invincible. Nothing got her down. She would always come bouncing back like a rubber ball".
She said Keane was an extraordinary mix of great kindness and outrageousness. "She was marvellous fun, with a wicked sense of humour. She was utterly outrageous. We'd be hiding under the table to see what she'd do next".
Terry Keane was born Ann Teresa O'Donnell in Guildford, Surrey, in 1939. Her parents Tim O'Donnell, a doctor, and her mother Ann, a bank official, were Irish and she spent some time in Ireland during her childhood.
She returned to Ireland to study medicine at Trinity College in 1958 but never finished her degree.
In 1961, she became pregnant after a brief relationship with the late British actor, James Donnelly. She later spoke about the heartache of giving up the baby for adoption in Britain. She was later reunited with that daughter, Jane, and described it as one of the happiest times of her life.
Three months after the baby's birth, she married barrister Ronan Keane, who would later become chief justice. The couple, who eventually separated, had three children, journalist Madeleine, Justine who is married to celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin, and Tim, who died suddenly in 2004.
She quickly established a wide social circle and became involved in fashion journalism. She worked as fashion editor with The Irish Timesfrom 1963 to 1970 and with the Sunday Pressfrom 1970 to 1989 before moving to the Sunday Independent and establishing the Keane Edge social and gossip column.
Her entry in Who's Who in Irelanddescribed her as "one of the most widely read and talked about journalists in the country" and said she had "given gossip a knife edge of danger". Her hobbies were listed as "living, loving, the corridors of power".
She began a relationship with Charlie Haughey in 1972 and often spoke of their affair at social gatherings. She frequently referred to "Sweetie" in the Keane Edge column but it wasn't until her dramatic appearance on Gay Byrne's Late Late Showon May 14th, 1999, that the relationship became public knowledge.
In 2006, Keane told Pat Kenny on The Late Late Showthat she deeply regretted the decision to go on the programme.
"What I really, really regret so deeply is that so many people were hurt, so deeply, my nearest and dearest, and his family too."
She said she had just been diagnosed with heart disease when she appeared on the show in 1999, and had been "under pressure" and "misguided" at the time.
Asked how history might remember her, Ms Keane said she had at least another 20 years to change the public perception of her, but she was essentially "someone who loves her family and who is loved by her family".
The removal of her remains will take place tomorrow, arriving at St Joseph's Church, Glasthule, at 5pm. Her funeral will take place on Wednesday, after 11 o'clock Mass, to Mount Jerome Crematorium.
