THE EDITOR of the Sunday IndependentAengus Fanning was a man of action and a doer, mourners were told at his removal in Dublin last night.
Fanning (69) who edited the newspaper for 28 years, died on Tuesday after a long illness.
Fr Denis Kennedy told mourners at St Joseph’s Church in Glasthule that Fanning had touched the lives of many people.
“He did so much good,” he said.
Fanning was the type of person who would ask “what can I do for you?” and would give practical help to people, Fr Kennedy said. “For that was the man; he was; a doer, a man of action, a believer in that sense.”
He recalled visiting Fanning during his illness and seeing him reading a book called Miracles. “Maybe he was hoping . . .” he said.
Fr Kennedy said the newspaper editor had passed away quietly on Tuesday, without warning, but his death was not the end. Fr Kennedy said he had seen the first daffodil in his garden earlier yesterday. “The Lord is telling us something in nature,” he said. “Death is followed by new life.”
Fr Kennedy welcomed the support offered to Fanning’s family by the large turnout.
“I know their hearts are broken,” he said.
Mourners were led by Fanning's wife, Sunday Independentdeputy editor Anne Harris; his sons Dion, Evan and Stephen; stepdaughters Constance and Nancy and his brothers Rio, Patrick and Connell. Fanning was predeceased by his first wife Mary.
Fr Kennedy also welcomed Nóirín Ní Riain, a family friend, who sang The Lord is my Shepherd.
Mourners included past and present colleagues from the media as well as politicians and figures from the sporting world.
Independent News and Media (INM) chief executive Gavin O'Reilly was there as was Joe Webb, chief executive of INM's Irish division; Michael Denieffe, managing editor of Independent Newspapers; Willie Kealy, deputy editor of the Sunday Independent; Noirin Hegarty, editor of Independent.ie, and columnist Eoghan Harris.
Evening Heraldeditor Stephen Rae and Sunday Worldeditor Colm McGinty attended as did journalists Liam Collins, Bruce Arnold, Brendan O'Connor, Barry Egan, Brighid McLaughlin and Madeleine Keane.
Also in attendance were former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Press Ombudsman John Horgan; former Irish Timeseditor Conor Brady; broadcaster Brendan Balfe; Abbey Theatre director Fiach MacConghail; fashion buyer Ian Galvin; solicitor Gerald Kean and his partner Lisa Murphy.
Other mourners included gardening writer Gerry Daly, Fr Cormac O’Brolcháin from Blackrock College and politicians Labour’s Joan Burton, Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar and Willie O’Dea, who wrote as a columnist for Fanning.
