John Hunt, who oversaw the gift to the nation of the important archaeological and artistic collection assembled by his parents, John and Gertrude (Putzel) Hunt, and who was instrumental in the foundation in 1997 of the Hunt Museum in Limerick where the collection is now on permanent display, died after a long illness on Sunday, August 29th, aged 47.
Adopted in infancy from the Co Limerick home where he was born on April 15th, 1957, Hunt and his sister, Trudy, were brought up in the family home in Howth, Co Dublin, surrounded by the antiquities and objets d'art collected by their parents.
Although his parents were active in the international art market, it was through their devotion to collecting Irish and European artistic and archaeological objects, modern as well as ancient, that the young Hunt acquired an exceptional understanding of and empathy with the world of art and those who make it.
This was to shape his life. It was apposite therefore that, having completed his primary education at St Gerard's in Bray, and his secondary at Glenstal Abbey, he should choose to study art history and archaeology at University College Dublin.
Graduating with high honours in 1979, Hunt initially embarked on graduate study at University College Cork. His choice of subject - the tower houses of Co Clare - suggested he was set fair to emulate the scholarly achievements of his father, whose monumental Irish Medieval Figure Sculpture (2 vols) was published in 1974, and to develop his own burgeoning interest, which had prompted his appointment in 1975 to the board of the Craggaunowen project, in the rich archaeological legacy of that county.
However, his practical instincts drew him more strongly towards the world of arts administration and, perceiving the need for a professional service in the realm of exhibition installation, he founded Art and Exhibition Services, which was the first company of its type in Ireland devoted to the installation of visual arts exhibitions. It also provided him with an expanded understanding of the realities of the arts in Ireland, which proved valuable on his appointment as visual arts and film officer to the Arts Council in 1984.
Although his term as an Arts Council officer was notable for his attentiveness to the welfare of artists, he also contrived to expand the definition of the visual arts to embrace architecture by securing the funds to support the Architectural Association of Ireland's annual awards exhibition.
After four years in the Arts Council, Hunt moved on to serve as director of Temple Bar Gallery and Studios in 1988, where he sustained an exceptionally active programme of exhibitions, notably Showcase in which all the artists associated with the studios exhibited in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in July 1989.
This was an exciting period in the history of Temple Bar Gallery and, like his term as an Arts Council officer, it was good preparation for what was to prove the major undertaking of his life - the establishment of a permanent museum devoted to his parents' collection of art and antiquities in Limerick.
Conscious that this would require all his formidable energies, Hunt departed Temple Bar Gallery and Studios in October 1990 to devote himself full time to the task of overseeing the transformation of the Custom House in Limerick into a museum appropriate to the quality of the collection that he was determined should be handed over to the Irish people.
This necessitated an endless series of meetings and organisational interventions, and while this could not have taken place without the support of the minister at the time, Michael D. Higgins, and his officials, the Office of Public Works, the University of Limerick, Shannon Development and other bodies and individuals, Hunt played a key role throughout.
He served for over a year from September 1996 as "acting director", but in keeping with his determination that the museum should be run along professional lines and not be seen as a personal or family project, he handed on the baton shortly after the museum was officially opened in February 1997.
With the museum established, and the Hunt Collection housed in a space in keeping with its beauty and importance, Hunt was free to pursue other interests, in which he demonstrated further the strength of his commitment to the advancement of the visual arts in Ireland. He did this through the active purchase of the work of younger artists, by lending and making items in his own collection available for show, and by doing what he could by promoting and publicising the achievements of the artistic community.
To this end, he served for a time as visual arts reviewer for The Arts Show and Rattlebag on RTÉ Radio, as an arts commentator on Lyric FM, and as a columnist with the Limerick Evening Echo. He also served on the board of a number of arts organisations, notably the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, of which he was chairman at the time of his death. He was also the deserving recipient of a number of awards, which acknowledged the magnitude of his achievement in bringing the Hunt Museum into being.
These include the Freedom of Limerick (1997) and the Royal Hibernian Gold Medal (2001). He had recently been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Limerick. Hunt was happy to accept these awards, but he did not receive them as personal accolades; rather, he saw them as an acknowledgment of the Hunt Collection and of those who have contributed to its display.
This also accounts for his determined defence of the integrity of the collection in the face of unspecified allegations as to the origins of a small number of items. He did so with skill and dignity despite his declining health, consistent with his enduring belief in the importance of the collection as well as his fidelity to the memory of his parents.
He was joined in this by his family, to whom he was devoted. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Mooney, their three children, Jack, Paddy and Miriam, and by his sister, Trudy.
John Hunt: born April 15th, 1957; died August 29th, 2004