Pauraic Ferguson puzzled many of his contemporaries. In his military and business careers he did everything well - taking less time and effort than the rest of us. This resulted from a clear, quick mind and a natural ability to organise his own and others' time.
He joined the Army in 1941 and was later commissioned as a temporary officer into An Cead Cathlann Coisithe, the Irish-speaking battalion in Renmore. He enjoyed his time as a platoon commander before taking the Cadet School examinations. His second commissioning was into the Air Corps, where he qualified as a pilot and then transferred to the Signal Corps.
That corps was changing. Equipment had become more complex; to cope with it officers needed more technical education. The Director of Signals, the late Col James Devine, took the then unprecedented step of sending officers to the Institute of Science and Technology in Kevin Street, Dublin. His adviser on this was the late Lieut James McGeown, a pre-war regular soldier who had qualified himself technically by hard study. The Signal Corps owes him much.
The timing was right. Hugh de Lacy had started an electronic engineering course based on American textbooks, and an American approach to electronics. He set a rigorous, fast pace. Pauraic absorbed electronics as he absorbed everything else - thoroughly and apparently without effort.
He was given charge of radar when it became a Signal Corps responsibility. Some No.3 Mk. VII fire control radars were obtained. These were very advanced in the early 1950s. Their visible operational deployment around London indicated the state of the Cold War at that time.
Pauraic and a small staff of officers and technicians set up a proper workshop where he ensured that the radars were maintained to full technical performance test standards. Understanding and achieving these standards took longer on the radio side of the corps.
He also did well on the various non-technical courses very properly required of all officers. For him, these ranged from boxing coaching to a command and staff course. He was always a wise, reliable friend.
The director made strong representations that promotion by seniority was not meeting the new demands on his corps. The authorities accepted this and promoted Ferguson to commandant at a young age. Promotion on merit and third-level education are routine now, but they were unprecedented in the 1950s.
He had a fine record of achievement when he left the Army for business management. His straightforward, witty personality continued to be an asset. He later worked with An Coras Trachtala and gained a Fulbright Scholarship to the Wharton School of Business in the University of Pennsylvania, where he found his command and staff training useful. He joined Arks Advertising and eventually became its CEO and chairman. He was appointed to the Board of Aer Lingus and came up for reserve training every year.
He retired to Sligo, with which he had always maintained ties. The sympathy of military and business friends goes out to Peggy and the family, who meant so much to him.