One of the State's most notable philanthropists, Mr Victor Bewley, died yesterday aged 87.
His name is connected in the public mind with Bewley's Cafes, the family business, and with his work for Travellers. He was also a prominent Quaker, liked oil painting and the piano, and was involved in promoting dialogue in Northern Ireland since the outbreak of the Troubles there.
He was born in 1912 and grew up on the family farm in Rathgar, Dublin. He was educated at Rathgar Junior School and later at Bootham, York, England.
At the age of 17 he entered his father's business - the Bewley's cafes, a bakery, a farm and a coffee and tea importing business. He became managing director aged 21. He married the late Winifred Burne of Dublin and they had three daughters, Winifred, Rachel and Heather.
He became involved in Traveller issues in the 1960s but had been working to alleviate poverty for many years - at one stage giving over the Westmoreland Street cafe for cooking and serving evening meals to hundreds of children from the slums.
In the 1960s he started, with others, the Dublin Committee for Travelling People, and was secretary for over 20 years. He was secretary of the National Council for Travelling People and later its chairman.
He helped in practical ways too - a voluntary school for Travellers on a halting site in Cherry Orchard in 1965 got free milk and buns from Victor Bewley. In 1972 he caught the State's imagination by transferring Bewleys' ownership to its workforce. It lasted for nine years, after which Bewleys, then in some difficulties, was bought by a private company.
Mr Bewley has donated his body for medical research. A memorial meeting will be held in Friends Meeting House on Lower Churchtown Road, Dublin, on Saturday at 11.30 a.m.