John Daly:JOHN DALY, who has died aged 79, was for more than 20 years the managing director of the computer company ICL Ireland.
Born on a dairy farm near Youghal, Co Cork, he had an instinctive ability in sales from an early age. Sent by his father to sell cattle at Youghal fair when he was just a boy, he named a price to a dealer who had inquired about his stock. Although his father had given him flexibility, Daly stuck to the price and allowed the dealer to walk away. He waited coolly until the dealer returned, secure in his belief that his cattle could command the top of the market.
In UCD he studied commerce and accounting and met his future wife Ailish, a pharmacy student. While in Dublin, the promise he had shown as a hurler in Cork, where he played for the county at minor level, made him an automatic selection for the Dublin senior hurling team.
Jobs in 1950s Ireland were scarce. On graduating, Daly moved to London without even the prospect of work; he took any job on offer there, first on the buses and then qualifying as a teacher and working in East End schools. Demonstrating batting in the cricket nets, his hurler’s swing connected fabulously on occasion and he saw no need to disavow the rumour that he was a county cricket player in England during the summer months.
Joining ICL Computers, he was recognised as an outstanding salesman. After five years he had risen from junior sales executive to manager of the west London division.
In 1970 he was offered the managing directorship of a range of ICL international enterprises, including Moscow and New Zealand. He eagerly returned to Dublin to take on the all-Ireland division. ICL became a leading player in Irish business, establishing dominance in medium to large computer supply and setting up, with the support of the government, a centre for excellence in computer development.
His sense of humour leavened his relations with a large staff. Involved in organising a concert for Amnesty International by the pianist Tamàs Vásáry in 1984, he put posters all over the ICL factory.
When one of his managers complained to him about “left-wing posters put up by the shop-steward”, he was mystified that Daly, recently returned from Moscow where his son was studying, gave him a line from Lenin, “Art should come to the people”.
As the head of a UK-owned Irish business, Daly was often invited to official receptions. At one of these, he had an encounter with Ted Heath, then British prime minister. After being introduced, small talk became difficult. Daly gestured to a businessman beside him saying, “Mr Heath, can I introduce another gentleman from Cork?” The prime minister replied: “Oh, I didn’t know there were gentlemen in Cork.”
Daly replied: “Nature, Mr Heath, distributed gentlemen evenly to all parts of the world.”
In 1990 he set up the Sales Institute of Ireland with Georgina Charleton, formally recognising for the first time the importance of selling in Ireland’s economy.
For five years he was the chairman of the advisory committee of the National Treasury Management Agency. He had served for five years as an ordinary member before becoming chairman. He was also president of Dublin Chamber of Commerce in 1994. His president’s address was an imaginative look forward to Dublin as a centre of excellence in 2010.
He is survived by his wife Ailish, his son Conor and daughter Fiona.
John Daly: born August 26th, 1930; died August 21st, 2010.