Peter Cullen Tynan O Mahony, who died on December 5th aged 69, was in the quixotic tradition of his second cousin, Eoin "Pope" O Mahony. He had an old-world courtesy bordering on gravitas. Born in Dublin in 1930, he was educated at St Mary's College, Terenure.
His enthusiasms included The Irish Times, rugby and family history, particularly the memory of Eoin O Mahony, genealogist and raconteur. His father, Gerard Cullen Tynan O Mahony, had served in the first World War and was known as "Pussy" during his subsequent career in The Irish Times.
Peter Tynan O Mahony joined The Irish Times in 1965, was appointed deputy chief subeditor four years later, and became design editor in 1975. He was an immensely skilful sub-editor, and a thoughtful colleague.
Due to ill-health and ill-chance, he never quite achieved his potential. He was a perfectionist, which can be a drawback in the pressurised world of journalism. He was in Bantry, Co Cork, when the Betelgeuse tanker disaster occurred in 1979. His photographs were used as evidence at the subsequent inquiry.
On his resignation from The Irish Times, he devoted his editorial skills to producing the O Mahony Journal.
The 12 volumes which he edited demonstrate, along with pride in the O Mahony sept, his talents as cartographer and photographer.
Besides editing the O Mahony Journal, he succeeded the "Pope" as rally organiser. Peter Tynan O Mahony wrote that he and his brothers revered Eoin.
"As a young reporter in Drogheda, I was to appreciate his occasional calls at the Argus office. Seldom he failed to give me the bones of a national news story and a list of people who might assist in my inquiries. In the decade or so I spent away from Ireland, whether working in Britain or on the Continent, the advance notice for the next rally never failed to reach me.
"In later years we came to know one another well. Hardly a week went by without a visit from Eoin, generally late at night at The Irish Times office. Again, he proved a fount of information, hinting at probable political developments . . ." Peter Tynan O Mahony said in 1973, three years after the "Pope's" death: "Today we are still sharply conscious of his greatness and learning, his warmth of personality, his chivalrous spirit, his sense of kinship.
"His memory serves as our inspiration and stimulus in the task to perpetuate the ideals he sought to infuse into our modern, and at times darkening, world."
He unveiled a plaque in Glasnevin Cemetery in 1977 to mark the centenary of John O Mahony, the Fenian leader who died impoverished in New York.
The O Mahony Records Society was founded that year to promote genealogical research, restore castles and grant scholarships. Peter Tynan O Mahony was largely responsible for setting up the O Mahony Bursary, which is administered by the Royal Irish Academy. He was also a member of the National Library of Ireland Society. In recent years he organised a Tynan Society to preserve the home of the poet, Katharine Tynan - his grandmother's sister.
In his last Christmas message, he described the 200-year-old farmhouse in Co Dublin as the acknowledged genius loci of the Irish literary revival: " stands in a ruinous state, neglected and vandalised, a sad and damning testament to the indifference of modern society to our cultural heritage."
But like Katharine, Peter Tynan O Mahony was too big-hearted for bitterness. He particularly liked her mystical poem, Sheep and Lambs, the last verse of which reads:
All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad;
I saw the sheep with their lambs,
And thought of the Lamb of God.
Peter Tynan O Mahony lived in Bray, Co Wicklow, for many years. The town's heritage centre is another monument to his dedication.
He is survived by his wife, Mary (nee Timson), who he married in 1957, daughter Siobhan, sons, Eoin and Julian, and brother David.
Peter Tynan O Mahony: born 1930; died, December 2000