Brendan Rowe: Brendan Rowe, former head of the school of accountancy, business studies and adult continuing education at Waterford Institute of Technology, was a major influence in the development of third-level education in Ireland.
For almost 30 years, he was involved in the development of policy and its application in the introduction of academic courses in accountancy, business studies and the humanities.
He was a former president of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in 1986 and also served on its international education committee.
Brendan Rowe was born near Ballycastle, Co Mayo, and educated by the Christian Brothers in Kilrush, Co Clare, before graduating with a B Comm from University College Dublin in 1954. His professional career started in the City of London where, by his late 20s, he had risen to become controller of financial risk in the underwriting department of the Royal Exchange Insurance, one of Britain's largest companies.
In 1964 he moved into education as a lecturer at the Harrow Institute of Technology where, a year later, he was appointed director of all professional business studies and adviser to the director of student affairs. During his time in Harrow, he became a byword for excellence and in 1967 he was selected as best teacher of finance in England and Wales by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Higher and Further Education.
He returned to Ireland in 1971, to become head of business and general studies in the fledgling Waterford Regional Technical College, now WIT.
The programmes he instituted in WIT changed accountancy studies nationally and gave opportunities to students to marry their accountancy with their academic qualifications. His contribution to business studies and the humanities was equally important and the educational links he forged with institutes, colleges and universities in Britain and other EU countries have endured.
When he retired in 1998, the school boasted an outstanding portfolio of programmes, including 13 primary degrees and three taught Masters degree programmes and he had the distinction of being the recipient of the first honorary fellowship ever conferred by WIT.
"What he achieved had a greater effect on the development of business studies and accounting studies in this country than probably anyone else," Séamus Puirséil, chief executive of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, said in a tribute to him this week. "He was involved in every major area in the development of business studies during the 1980s and 1990s. His demeanour wasn't academic but he was a great teacher and innovator."
His original thinking, his innovation and his vision would, in the coming three decades, shape WIT and would reach far beyond that college to inform and develop third-level education.
He served for many years on the business studies board of the then National Council for Educational Awards (now HETAC) and chaired key panels established by the council. He was appointed later to the NCEA special committee of legal studies education in Ireland. He was involved with the Department of Education as an adviser and examiner, pioneering many initiatives in higher education. Until he became ill, he worked unceasingly to conclude negotiations on the mutual recognition of formal qualifications in an increasingly integrated Europe and globalised market.
Dr Anthony White, divisional director of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, said: "He was a very creative and innovative man. He built up a strong business school in Waterford and developed the first degree courses in business studies at RTC level in Waterford. Other areas he pioneered in RTCs included music and recreation and leisure."
Brendan Rowe could never have been described as one-dimensional and his interest in horse-racing, hurling and good company made him as many lasting friends and contacts as his academic work.
He is survived by his wife Geraldine, their sons Mark and Colman, and grandchildren Malcolm, Tony and Lydia, brother Billy and sister Clare.
Brendan Rowe: born May 1933; died October 2005.