KEVIN KEENAN:KEVIN KEENAN, who has died aged 83, was an executive in the British building industry. As such, he was know to the thousands of Irishmen who worked for Sir Robert McAlpine, one of the world's largest civil engineering contractors.
He was the second son of Arthur and Josephine Keenan. His father, unable to sustain engineering work in Scotland in Depression years, came home as a roundsman for a local baker. He became a skilled angler, something his younger son also enjoyed.
Kevin Keenan was educated at Greenpark CBS primary and grammar schools, Armagh, after which he tried an apprenticeship to a saddler.
At Tullygoonigan, near the city, Keenan was hired as clerk to the clerk of works. McAlpines were so impressed they invited him to continue working for them in Britain. When he retired in September 1990 after a remarkable 40-year-career, to the very day, he had been personnel manager for 17 years.
He worked as manager of a plant and maintenance depot, then as office manager at some of the biggest engineering projects in post-war Britain. A pay clerk on London’s South Bank, he helped a peaceful merger between Irish and West Indian labourers.
From an executive role at Berkeley Nuclear Power Station, he went to Scunthorpe steel mills in 1970, where he was office manager. At the head office in London he took the staff management post in June 1973.
Throughout his life, a ganger or a foreman was as likely at his lunch table as a member of the family. A company executive said: “He is still remembered here as being very popular.”
McAlpine’s board met on Mondays and the family met on Tuesdays. Keenan’s attendance was required at both.
A commanding figure at just over six foot, his easygoing charm was a key to his success. He was rarely if ever rattled.
His popularity was immense right down to the company labourers – the McAlpine’s Fusiliers of song fame. A friend who met him by arrangement after Mass in a west London suburb was astonished at the number of men who shouted his name or waved at him.
His reputation as a calming trouble-shooter won the confidence of family directors and he was a stand-in golfing partner for Britain’s testy war hero, the legless air ace, Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader. He would say they “entertained each other” on those golfing days.
He met his future wife, Nuala O’Donnell of Carrick-on-Suir, at the Irish Centre in London. She was recently back from teaching in Canada and working as a volunteer. They made their hospitable home in Hampton, Middlesex and retired to Ireland. Golfing remained a favourite hobby.
He was predeceased by a brother, Jim, but is survived by his wife.
Kevin Keenan, born June 6th 1927; died October 11th 2010