Joe Rea, who shaped the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) into a powerful and effective lobby group under his leadership in the mid-1980s, was buried yesterday in his native Ballylooby, Co Tipperary.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral Mass and burial including the Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was represented by Comdt Michael Murray.
An IFA guard of honour at the church included former IFA presidents Paddy Lane, Donal Cashman, Tom Clinton, Alan Gillis, John Donnelly, Tom Parlon, John Dillon and current president Pádraig Walshe.
In his homily at the Requiem Mass in St Kieran's Church, the chief celebrant, Fr Michael Walsh,said that Mr Rea's death had been sudden but he had been well-prepared spiritually for it.
"Joe once said in a jovial mood that, whenever he died, he hoped whoever was doing his service at the funeral would not say he was a 'lovely man' as he regarded that as an insult," he said.
"I will not call him a lovely man. I will call him a gentleman, a good father and husband and a friend of the farmer and the local community who had a passion for justice," he told a congregation which included a cross-section of the agriculture and food sector.
He said that Joe's loss would not just be felt by his wife and family but by the hundreds of farmers who had come from all over the country to pay their respects over the past two days.
In a graveside oration, Mr Walshe said that his achievements included his campaign in which the government was forced to admit it was maintaining an overvalued pound that was crippling food exports.
He said that while Joe was always polite and courteous, he had no time for pretence or self-importance. The chief mourners were his wife Margaret, sons Michael and Martin, daughter Trina, his brother Richard and sister Joan and his grandchildren Joseph and Luke.
The attendance included representatives from other farm organisations, colleagues from the Irish Farmers Journal where he published milk league tables, and cultural and sporting organisations.