Theo Mortimer:THEO MORTIMER, who has died aged 76, worked for many years in the printing trade before joining the training agency Fás, where he was responsible for printing apprenticeships.
Deeply interested in history and music, he edited the Dublin Historical Record and gave classes in musical appreciation. Born in September 1931 in Rialto, Dublin, he was the son of George and Lily Mortimer. He attended St Andrew's Methodist National School and won a scholarship to Wesley College.
In 1946, he was apprenticed to the printing trade at Bailey Gibson Ltd. He continued his education at Bolton Street College of Technology, winning first place in both junior and senior printing certificate exams. He later studied social and economic sciences at University College Dublin, where he received an honours diploma.
Having worked as a journeyman printer in Dublin, he then went to Heidelberg for training as an instructor in print training for Schnellpressenfabrik AG, one of the world's leading printing machine manufacturers.
From there he went as training instructor to their western United States subsidiary. After a year, he returned to Ireland as print supervisor at Bailey Gibson. He continued his studies, and was awarded the certificate in supervision, achieving first place in the examination.
In 1965 he became training manager at Bailey Gibson and introduced training programmes in various departments. In 1969 he joined Anco (the industrial training authority) and worked primarily with printing firms throughout Ireland, advising and assessing companies on their training needs, later drawing up schemes for submission to the European Community for training grants. This work continued when Anco was absorbed by Fás.
He also dealt with apprentices throughout the country and later used his expertise to advise and assist companies in the selection of apprentices. This became his main field of work, which later included revising the training programmes for printing apprentices throughout the country.
He was awarded the Con Kelleher Memorial Trophy for "an outstanding contribution to training in the printing industry in the Munster area". He retired in 1996.
His hobbies included music history, reading and gardening. His favourite composer was Mozart, and he was a founder member of the John McCormack Society, established to honour the memory of the Athlone-born tenor.
From the 1960s onwards, he lectured widely on musical subjects, and, in the 1980s, gave evening classes in music appreciation at Ballyfermot and Fairview vocational schools.
As a member of the Old Dublin Society, he won the society's medal for his paper on Michael Kelly, the Dublin-born tenor and friend of Mozart, who in 1786 sang in the first performance of The Marriage of Figaro.
He was honorary editor of the society's journal, Dublin Historical Record, from 1997 to the time of his death. He regularly reviewed books for the publication and his last article, 'The Incorporated Orthopaedic Hospital of Ireland', appeared in the 2007 autumn issue.
Rev DA Levistone Cooney, the society's president, said: "As editor, he raised the standard of the Record to a very high level. He was so far ahead in his preparation that the spring 2008 issue was almost ready for publication, and those of us who have taken responsibility for its completion have had very little to add to it."
An active member of his church, he held various positions at Dolphin's Barn, Drimnagh and Sutton Methodist churches, and compiled the history of Sutton church for its 2003 centenary celebrations.
Speaking at the funeral service, Rev Conrad Hicks said: "As circuit superintendent, I cannot speak highly enough of Theo, a man of loyalty and yet of independence and integrity; a man with a deep and innate sense of justice, who did not fear to challenge any prejudice that he encountered. He would defend those who were treated unfairly because of creed, colour or gender. He was a prince among gentleman, and will be sorely missed." He is survived by his wife Patricia (née Cahill), daughter Celine and son Justin; his son Theo predeceased him.
Theo Mortimer: born September 14th, 1931; died April 10th, 2008