Liam McGonagle, who died on November 14th, had an expansive personality and commanded a fierce loyalty from friends. A solicitor with a fine legal mind, he officially retired only last month.
He was born on October 11th, 1929, in Dublin, the son of Christopher (Kitt) McGonagle and Agnes Hayden. He grew up in Clontarf and attended Belvedere College and University College, Dublin, where he completed a BA in Legal and Political Science.
He was awarded the Findlater Gold Medal by the Incorporated Law Society in 1951 and immediately entered the family firm of Kennedy McGonagle and Ballagh where he was still a consultant at the time of his death. He lectured for many years on company law to students at The Institute of Chartered Accountants.
He combined a strong business acumen with legal intuition and specialised in commercial and property law. He had property interests which extended to becoming a director of Marlborough Holdings, a company set up with Ken O'Reilly Hyland, and which built Telephone House, in Marlborough Street, in 1968. He could be turbulent but a sense of adventure translated into his great love of the sea. He was a director of Irish Shipping and, in recent times, a Commissioner of Irish Lights.
He lived in Howth and sailed out of Howth Yacht Club. He was instrumental in building a new club house there and developing the marina. Sailing companions included former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.
Liam McGonagle owned a yacht, Ounavarra, and cruised regularly to the Greek Islands, Spain and to other Mediterranean countries. He was a past commodore of The Irish Cruising Club, serving from 1996 to 1998. He was a supporter of The Royal National Lifeboat Institute and a member of the Royal St George Yacht Club. He was also a Fastnet Race veteran.
He had been on the fringes of politics and became involved in fundraising for Fianna Fail in the 1960s. He was a member of the committee which ran Taca, Fianna Fail's controversial fundraising operation.
A connoisseur of food and wine and a renowned after-dinner speaker, he had an eclectic range of friends, many of whom he had known for years.
His first wife, Evelyn Hosford, died in I993 and he married Barbara Fox-Mills this year. She, along with her two children Philip and Julie, survive him.
Liam McGonagle: born 1929; died November, 1999