PHILIP Flood was one of the pioneers who laid the foundations for economic success through his work on the development of marketing in Ireland.
He would never have thought so himself, as he was a most unassuming person whose focus was always on the next development, and never on himself. His way of working was to involve and encourage others.
Philip was born in 1929. His early story was a common one - growing up in rural Ireland, emigrating to England, working in selling. Those were hard times in both countries, especially for Irish emigrants. Over there he observed how unprepared young Irish people were for commercial careers. Philip was different in that he decided to settle in Dublin and do something about it.
He didn't parade his mission to build marketing education in Ireland. He shared his vision with his ever-increasing circle of friends and inspired many with his passion. At a time when there were so many reasons for pessimism and depression, his personal relations with people were always encouraging and complimentary. He combined old-style politeness and dignity with a drive to modernise marketing education though both full-time and part-time courses. At that time many people didn't have the opportunity to go to college.
He was the primary driving force behind the conversion of the second-level City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (CDVEC) School of Commerce and Retail Distribution into a third-level College of Marketing and Design (COMAD) in the Dublin Institute of Technology. He was also a founder-member of the Marketing Institute of Ireland in the early 1960s, winner of the Stephen Doyle Award for Meritorious Service to Marketing in 1975, chairman of the Institute in 1984, and the first to be admitted to honorary membership in 1995 on the occasion of his retirement from the College of Marketing and Design. He built and sustained the education wing of the institute.
One of his great COMAD achievements was the development of a degree in marketing management, which involved working through the CDVEC structures, developing a relationship with Trinity College - which became the degree-awarding body - and bringing the course to an international standard that would satisfy an examination board comprising professors from British universities.
This brought out Phil's capacity to innovate, to persuade, to resolve problems at speed. Dealing with Philip was always exciting because of his focus on the next development, and always fun, especially when facing the unexpected. For Philip, problems were for surmounting, and his friends and connections were for easing the path to the solutions. The many layers of bureaucracy within the college, the DIT, the CDVEC and the Department of Education often frustrated action. On one occasion, when the college was based in No 18 Parnell Square, now beautifully restored as the Dublin Writer's Museum, the building developed dry rot in the roof. Years of requests and planning committees, discussion of capital budgets and their allocation across the five DIT colleges failed to get results.
Philip decided to wait three weeks and then ask a friend, the Opposition spokesman for education in Dáil Éireann, to put down a question for written reply: "Does the Minister realise the condition of the building, etc, and the danger to students, etc?". Why not do it by oral question? Because a row with the Government in the Dáil might get backs up and jeopardise the move to a new building. Why wait three weeks to have the question asked? In case the building was condemned too soon, before the students had finished lectures in May.
Sure enough, the college was moved to another building in time for the start of a new year in September.
Not having children, Philip turned his immense energy and enthusiasm to many projects, always bringing to them his flair for marketing and for the convivial occasion.
He was public relations officer and then president of the Irish Colleges Rugby Union, and was instrumental in organising the pre-match morning reception held before each full international match at Lansdowne Road.
He was the founder president of the Dublin Viking Rotary Club, which helped to fund many charitable causes. It is only now he is gone that the stories of his personal kindness to individuals are emerging.
Philip's many admiring and appreciative friends will miss his warmth, his fun, his charm, and his selfless concern to do something of value for people. While a man with many public involvements, he was not one to draw attention to himself. You had to get to know him to see glimpses of his altruism, his Christian values, his underlying goodness and humanity.
He was a devoted husband to his wife, Marie. In his retirement he increasingly devoted himself to church activities in Dundrum, Ballinteer, and with the Servite Community.
Philip is survived by Marie and his brother, Joe.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dhílis.
CB