One year after his passing, the memories of Paddy O’Keeffe remain fresh in the minds of his family and many friends.

Paddy is best remembered for his service to Irish agriculture, especially in his role as editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, a position he held for 37 years, and as founding Chairman of FBD.

Paddy had many talents but perhaps his greatest was his ability to seek out other active and creative minds, people with energy, foresight and usually good sense. He would put these people in contact with each other, enthuse them and encourage them to the point where good ideas became a reality. For a man in his 90th year he had an unusual array of young friends and contacts. He was always keen to mentor upcoming bright sparks.

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His life was about ideas, how to improve farming, the economy, politics. Travel, reading and discussion were his sources. His honeymoon was spent viewing cows in Holland in 1951. In 1955 he set up the weekly Radio Eireann discussion group Farmers’ Forum.

Paddy loved New Zealand. He had a great admiration for their agricultural achievements. His easy affable manner ensured good contacts there for the string of Irish who followed.

He was a man of immense energy and ability to network. In the early 1970s he toured the country endlessly setting up meetings to establish FBD insurance.

But Paddy’s life cannot be limited to his contribution to agriculture and agribusiness, even considering the fact his reputation and influence spread far wider than his native country. He loved life, opera, reading, good wine and good company. He would willingly debate, often long into the night, on any number of subjects as his friends across all walks of life would attest.

Anne, his wife of 60 years, gave Paddy the foundation on which to build his outstanding career. In the last year of his life, after Anne’s passing, he again found happiness with his second wife, Jane.

The memorial service held a year ago in Corrin Mart, near his home town of Fermoy, celebrated this life.

His daughters Margaret, Josephine and Elizabeth, son Patrick, their spouses, and his widow Jane, as well as his sister Joyce Maguire, his 12 grandchildren and their extended families would like to thank the hundreds of people who attended the memorial, sent cards, letter and flowers, and who shared their wonderful memories of times spent with him. The generosity of spirit shown to his family by so many is the best testimony of a life that was richly rewarding in every respect. Paddy is sadly missed by his family but his memory and influence lives on.

- The O’ Keeffe family.