A man of many careers, Michael H. Coote, who has died aged 86, found the one to which he grew most devoted in his 60s. One of the earliest members, first president and probably most energetic champion of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Michael Coote was born in Slough, in Britain, in 1913.
His first job was as an apprentice mechanic. He then pursued various business paths before coming to Ireland in 1935 to take a job with the then Turf Development Board - later Bord na Mona - as a development officer in the midlands.
While with the board he met Barbara Eton, whom he married in 1939. He left the board in 1949, started a number of business and consultancy companies, and retired in 1973.
He and his wife Barbara moved from Dublin to Brittas to enjoy retirement, but their idyll was slowly shattered. Barbara was diagnosed with the almost unknown Alzheimer's Disease.
She was ill for 17 years. It was through nursing her that Michael Coote became involved in the fledgling Alzheimer Society of Ireland, which had been founded in 1982.
A fellow of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, his experience in business was invaluable - he knew how to draw attention to an issue. He appreciated the necessity of raising awareness of the illness, before anything else could be achieved.
In 1985, following his wife's death, he resigned from the Church Of Ireland Priorities Fund, to which he had been highly committed, to work full-time for the Alzheimer Society.
He became President of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland in 1994, and was a former Honorary Secretary of Alzheimer Disease International, and founder member and former Director of Alzheimer Europe.
According to a colleague, his age never held him back.
"He had a very clear vision of how he saw the society developing. He never missed an opportunity to promote the society and to reach out to sufferers and their carers. Just a few years ago he was up on an elephant in Merrion Square for a photocall, and a few days later he was on a Garda motorcycle."
He married his second wife, Joan (nee Stevenson), in 1987.
He is survived by her and his three daughters, Deirdre, Sheila and Jennie, his son David and his grandchildren.
Michael Coote: born 1913; died October, 1999