Born July 11th, 1939
Died September 15th, 2024
Jack Fagan was a veteran property editor and journalist with The Irish Times with a little black book of contacts that was so synonymous with him it was brought to the altar during his funeral as a symbol of his life.
The journalist, who was aged 85 when he died, only fully retired five years earlier, after a career spanning six decades with the newspaper. He was also a talented footballer and was part of the Meath team that won the All-Ireland minor title in 1957 and part of the Navan O’Mahonys team that won five senior championships in a row.
Jack was one of nine children born to Nellie and Thomas Fagan in Navan. Like many journalists of that era, he learned his trade in local newspapers, starting with the Meath Chronicle and moving on to the Drogheda Independent, covering everything from council meetings to the courts. This well-rounded training led him to a job in The Irish Times in the 1960s. He made friends easily in the newsroom, and former colleagues remembered his sharp news sense, his professionalism and his mischievous sense of fun.
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He occasionally freelanced for the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph – an activity that would have been frowned upon by his bosses, so he used a pseudonym. However, his cover was almost blown on one occasion when one of his Telegraph reports carried his real name and he could be seen frantically dashing through the building to remove all copies of the offending newspaper before his name was spotted.
His promotion to aviation correspondent in the late 1960s led to many exciting jaunts across the globe. In December 1969 he was among a group of journalists who flew from New York to Seattle on the new Boeing 747 before the jumbo jet began its commercial flights. “And even in this day and age of American men on the moon, the Americans still managed to reserve some awe and wonder for the 747, the official designation for the flying village,” he wrote.
His role as aviation correspondent also led to romance and marriage. His wife to be, Eleanor Cox from Limerick, was working as a flight attendant with Aer Lingus when they locked eyes, 35,000ft in the air. After they married, they moved to Dunmoe House in the Boyne Valley, where they raised their three children. Restoring the period home became a labour of love for him when he was not working.
He was deputy news editor when the then editor Conor Brady appointed him to the property desk in 1988. While he had always been a versatile journalist, covering everything from farmers’ protests to men’s fashion, he made the property section his own and became a well-known figure on the property scene. He oversaw the introduction of the first all-colour property supplement in 1988 and ceaselessly worked at building up his black book of contacts to generate stories.
His daughter, Zoe, said work was a huge part of his life and he held on to his enthusiasm for the newspaper business right until the end. He was an avid reader, and his family’s abiding memory is of him sitting beside the Aga, poring over the day’s newspapers after returning from work.
He became editor of the commercial property section in the 1990s, and his colleague Orna Mulcahy recalled how he would start the week fretting that he had “no stories at all”. A day later he would have “a whole raft of good stories by sheer dint of working his contacts”.
She said working with him was a masterclass in journalism, as he had an uncanny knack for getting people to reveal information. His genuine interest in people and ability to find common ground with everyone made him an ideal mentor to scores of young journalists. He read their work very carefully and was tactful in his criticism.
While he officially retired in 2004, he continued to edit the commercial property section until January 2019. Jill O’Neill of estate agents Sherry FitzGerald said his passing was the end of an era. She recalled how he was simultaneously feared and respected by the property industry. “Nothing happened in property without Jack knowing about it,” she said. “He had an incredible head for figures and an incredible insight into the industry. The senior guys in every company, in every building firm, all held him in such high regard.” Many online condolences described him as a true gentleman and mentioned his integrity, honesty and huge pride in his children.
Jack Fagan was predeceased by his wife, Eleanor; brothers Billy and Harold; and sisters Jean and Evelyn. He is survived by his children, Doug, Zoe and Barry, son-in-law, John; daughter-in-law, Sinéad; granddaughter, Molly; sister Eleanor; brothers Herbert, Ken and Joe; and extended family.