Valentine Rice, who has died aged 71, was the first Catholic head of the education department in Trinity College, a post he held for 39 years.
A man of numerous interests and qualifications, Rice's many facets are captured in the description of him in his death notice as a "scholar, philosopher, historian, teacher, mentor, aesthete, musician, defender of the Liffey Valley, but most of all, gentle family man".
From Abbeydorney, Co Kerry, Rice attended Tralee CBS before going to study for the priesthood at Maynooth. Although he ultimately decided not to become a priest, he left Maynooth with a degree in theology, the first of his many third-level qualifications.
In UCG, he obtained a degree in arts and in UCC a further qualification in physics and maths. After a short spell working in the Department of Finance, he went to study at Harvard on a Fulbright scholarship and obtained a doctorate in education.
There he met his wife Ellen; they have two sons, David and Jonathan, and a daughter, Elizabeth. Rice returned to Ireland in 1965 and, after a brief spell as a lecturer in UCC, was appointed to the professorship of education in Trinity a year later.
It was an ideal time to take up such a position. Free second-level education was introduced in 1967 and Rice was well-positioned to expand his department in tandem with the needs of a growing education sector.
He introduced a full-time HDip programme and, in 1970, the first MEd course in the State, while formal links between Trinity and three education colleges were established in 1975.
Rice, who became a fellow in Trinity in 1970 and a senior fellow in 1997, played a major part in the founding of IFUT, the Irish Federation of University Teachers.
He was also centrally involved in the crisis that erupted in the late 1960s when attempts were made to merge UCD and TCD. Rice may have been a former clerical student but he had no hesitation in defending Trinity's position and opposing any union with its rival.
His academic interests centred on the philosophy of education and he was particularly enthused by the teaching of John Henry Newman, and the latter's emphasis on the importance of liberal education and academic freedoms. He retired last year.
For many years, Rice and his family have lived on the banks of the Liffey between Leixlip and Lucan.
He became involved in many environmental and heritage battles in the area: opposing housing development on an important archaeological site at Cooldrinagh, playing a pivotal role in setting up planning groups in west Dublin and, latterly, lobbying the Government through the Liffey Valley Park Alliance to protect the fragile environment on either side of the river against further encroachment by development.
An art critic and collector, Rice was also a keen pianist.
He died suddenly in Boston while on a visit to Harvard.
John Valentine Rice, born March 8th, 1935, died September 15th, 2006