For the best part of half a century, Mr Don Carroll, who died yesterday, had been a major and influential figure in Irish industry and banking.

Mr Carroll (73), was for many years chairman of Carroll Industries, which included PJ Carroll & Co, the tobacco manufacturers, and was also governor of the Bank of Ireland on several occasions.

Born in Cork in 1927, he was educated at Glenstal Abbey and Trinity College, Dublin, and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1952. In the same year, he joined family firm PJ Carroll. By 1961 he was chairman and managing director. By this time, he also had become a director of the Bank of Ireland, the Carreras tobacco group - later to become Rothmans International - and John Jameson and Son.

The following year, he became deputy governor of Bank of Ireland, and two years later began his first of many terms as governor.

He was received an honorary Doctorate in Laws from his alma mater in 1969.

During the 1960s, he reorganised Carroll Industries, forming an alliance with Carreras and, in time, taking half the Irish market. In the 1970s major diversification plans failed but in the 1980s, the group engaged in a variety of other activities, including fish farming, marketing and venture capital.

He is survived by his wife Monica, his son Jonathan and daughter, Jane.