Former RTÉ broadcaster Rodney Rice was remembered as a stellar journalist and dedicated family man at his funeral on Wednesday.
Mourners spoke about his clear moral compass and ability to call out injustice.
His humanist funeral ceremony took place in Mount Jerome in Dublin where a framed jigsaw puzzle depicting Rice with his wife Margo and their grandchildren lay before his coffin.
The broadcaster died aged 76 on Sunday morning following a short illness.
He was best known for presenting the Saturday View radio programme, as well as Worlds Apart, an international affairs programme. He retired in 2009.
He was a strong critic of South Africa’s apartheid system and was banned from entering the country because of how outspoken he was about the regime.
His two sons, Cian and Eoghan, delivered eulogies at the service.
Rice’s time in Africa was important to him, said Cian. “He told us in the early 1980s, his then boss questioned him about whether he was maintaining journalistic impartiality in relation to the situation in South Africa.”
According to Cian, his father replied “Yes” curtly, and his boss never asked him that question again.
Rice also took a great interest in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was born in Whiteabbey, Co Antrim, and his family were unionist. However, Cian said his dad was always open to hearing different perspectives.
He was intrigued about the Republic, so turned down a place at Oxford, instead opting to study at Trinity College.
Cian said his father enjoyed college in Dublin and had a great social life. “Many of you may not know this, but that gilded life might have ended tragically, one early evening in 1965.
“After almost 30 minutes in the Old Stand, he claims, he tripped, going down the steep, low-ceilinged stairs. He woke up in hospital, five days later.”
Cian says this incident had repercussions for his father years later, after he suffered an unexpected verbal lapse on live radio. This led to the end of his radio programme, Saturday View.
‘A remarkable life’
Eoghan Rice spoke about how he interviewed his father about his career four years ago. “The extent of his reporting on every aspect of life on this island, as well as on issues facing people in every other corner of the world, was unique, and I think unlikely to ever be repeated.”
His father travelled to more than 95 countries, 30 of which were in Africa. “It was by anyone’s standards, a remarkable life,” said Eoghan.
He spoke fondly about Saturday afternoons from his childhood, spent in pubs in Donnybrook with his father, where he socialised with politicians after his radio programme.
He also spoke about his father’s understanding of conflict. “He once told me, I’ve seen conflicts all over the world, and they are all the same . . . it’s always about one group of people trying to rule over another, and it’s always the innocent who suffer.”
Rice is survived by his wife Margo, his children Cian, Caitríona and Eoghan, and extended family.