Edgar Deale's dearest wish was to hear the bells of Christ Church and St Patrick's ringing in the millennium, but he died a few weeks early on December 19th, 1999. Aged 97 last August, his contribution to Irish society was impressive by any standards.
He was in equal measure a talented composer, musician and social reformer. These were his true life's work, although he was an insurance official and managing director of the Zurich Insurance Company for all his working life.
He was founder of the Irish Association of Civil Liberty, the Music Association of Ireland, and the Safety First Association, and was one of the early presidents of the Culwick Choral Society. According to fellow choir members he was a lovely bass singer and he treasured the memory of the choir's two first prizes at the 1927 Eisteddfod at Holyhead. He was a young man during the turbulent early years of the last century. He was the eldest son of Edwin and Minnie (nee Martin) Deale. His father ran the family stationery business and played the organ at the Methodist Centenary Church on St Stephen's Green. Three younger brothers Cyril, Kenneth and Leslie all predeceased him. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School and became a member of the cathedral choir. From his father, who packed the Methodist church for his performances, he received his musical talent. His mother instilled in him an awareness of the needs of others.
Affected by the deaths of children through traffic accidents, he formed the Safety First Association with the help of Father Denis Kennedy. One of his lasting achievements was the introduction of "lollipop" wardens to this State.
He also helped form the Fitzwilliam Street Society to contest the demolition of its Georgian houses. Through the music association, he edited a catalogue of contemporary Irish composers for many years. Most of all, he was active in the cause of civil liberty, believing that a country without an active civil liberty body could not be called "truly civilised". The Irish Association of Civil Liberty was founded in 1947, just after the Emergency years when censorship was oppressive. The establishment of the Censorship Appeals Board was the first of many victories for the association, which also succeeded in its efforts to have an Ombudsman appointed in the 1970s. Music was Edgar Deale's greatest passion, although he viewed his own talent to be limited. He published 40 original compositions and several arrangements of Irish folk songs which are now in Trinity College Library. His diaries are also at Trinity College, not to be opened until 20 years after his death.
His wife Ruth (nee Doran) died in 1973.
Edgar Deale: born 1902; died December, 1999