SIR RICHARD MICHAEL KEANE: SIR RICHARD Michael Keane, sixth baronet, who has died at the age of 101, had a multifaceted and colourful life as a journalist, soldier and farmer.
As diplomatic correspondent of the Sunday Timeshe covered the Nuremberg rallies in 1936. As a soldier he saw action in Africa and Yugoslavia and as a farmer in Co Waterford he ran a successful enterprise at Cappoquin House, an 18th century Georgian mansion built in the heart of the town on the site of an old Fitzgerald castle overlooking the river Blackwater.
He gained the title of sixth Baronet Keane on the death of his father Sir John Keane, a senator of the Irish Free State and governor of the Bank of Ireland.
Though viewed as Anglo-Irish, Keane was proud of his Irish lineage and traced the family origins to the ancient kings of Munster.
The baronecy was created in 1801 for John Keane, MP for Youghal from 1801 to 1806 and from 1808 to 1818. The Keanes had extensive lands in west Waterford and in 1831 the family gave the Cistercians 500 acres of mountain land for a nominal rent. Having been driven from France during the revolution, the monks built Mount Melleray Abbey on the site.
Sir Richard and his late wife Olivia, who died in 2002, opened the house and gardens to the public from April to July each year.
Educated at Sherborne and Oxford, he joined the Timesin London. Recalling his days with the newspaper when interviewed on the demise of the ascendancy in Ireland, he confided to having been "very close to Hitler, you know".
Asked if this implied an emotional or spiritual affinity, he replied: "For God's sake, man. No! Close to him physically at Nuremberg in '36. I was out there covering the rally . . . and there he was, rather comical with all these loyal party members saluting and jumping up and down."
Enlisting in the British army at the outbreak of the second World War, he was at the Battle of El Alamein and captured Gen Von Thoma, a key member of the staff of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the Afrika Korps. He was also engaged in covert missions in Yugoslavia, supporting the resistance against the Germans. The actor David Niven was the unit's squadron leader.
After the war, he held a temporary position with ICI and took over the running of the estate. His father had helped set up the Irish co-operative movement and was regarded as a caring landlord which perhaps explains why Cappoquin House survived the initial IRA campaign of "big house" burnings in 1921 only to be burned during the Civil War by republicans opposed to appointment of senators from the old ascendancy.
Originally from Ulster, the Keanes bought 10,000 acres and the town of Cappoquin from the Earl of Cork. As the political tide shifted, they changed religion and dropped the Gaelic (O'Cahan) version of the name, thus ensuring their status and fortune.
As a farmer, the former journalist made headlines during the Troubles, warning that he was targeted by the IRA. Some days later the dairy was blown up.
He is survived by his daughter Vivien and sons Charles and David.
Sir Richard Michael Keane: born January 29th, 1909; died December 28th, 2010