Eoin McKiernanEoin McKiernan, who has died aged 89, was one of the pioneers of Irish studies in the United States. Director emeritus of the Irish-American Cultural Institute (IACI), he founded the organisation with his wife in the early 1960s to promote Irish culture among Irish-Americans.
The institute's chief executive, John P. Walsh, said this week: "Eoin McKiernan's achievements in and contributions to the world of Irish studies and Irish culture are immeasurable. Ireland and Irish-America have lost a great man."
His was an inclusive view of culture although he had a special attachment to the Irish language, which he could speak fluently. Dismayed by the policy of successive governments towards Irish, he blamed a "crude utilitarianism" that rejected even the consideration of the case for the language.
Official policy, he wrote in 1962, was symptomatic of a "disease of the will" that affected matters other than the language revival. He questioned whether Ireland had the will of a nation to endure as a nation. However, he was heartened by subsequent developments such as the establishment of Raidió na Gaeltachta, the growth of gaelscoileanna and the launch of Telefís na Gaeilge (now TG4).
"He often quoted Queen Elizabeth in the 1600s when she spoke of the Irish in hateful terms: 'We must take their tongue and their hearts will follow'," his son, Kevin McKiernan, recalled to the Star Tribune paper. "Hatred of the language meant hatred of identity . . . but he was a keeper of the flame."
Born on May 10th, 1915, in Manhattan, New York, he was one of the four children of Henry McKiernan and his wife, Delia (née Nagle). His father died when he was a boy, and he spent part of his childhood with his mother's family in Lahinch, Co Clare. In New York he attended Irish classes organised by Conradh na Gaeilge, winning a scholarship to Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Rosmuc, Co Galway. That year had a major bearing on his life's work.
Having graduated with a BA in literature and classical languages from St Joseph's College, New York, he secured a master's in psychology at the University of New Hampshire and a PhD in English at Pennsylvania State University. He headed the English department at the State University of New York at Geneseo before, in 1960, becoming professor of English at the College of St Thomas, St Paul, Minnesota, where he introduced Irish to the curriculum.
Before moving to St Paul, he had spent a sabbatical year in Dublin, where he and his family lived in Donnybrook. He wanted his children to gain some experience of life in Ireland, and they attended local schools. His eldest daughter, Deirdre, was a student at University College Dublin.
Aware of Irish-Americans' strong sense of pride in their Irish heritage, in 1962 he founded the IACI to make them more aware of it. President Éamon de Valera became a patron of the institute, as has every subsequent president of Ireland, and Princess Grace of Monaco chaired the IACI board for many years.
During the 1960s he became widely known in the US through a series of films and television programmes, which he wrote and presented, on Irish history, literature and culture. Shown on public television, the programmes debunked the stereotypical, sentimental image of Ireland then prevalent in the US, and highlighted the country's antiquity, dignity and achievement.
Such was the response to the programmes - he received more than 10,000 letters from viewers across the US - that McKiernan in 1971 decided to leave academic life and devote all of his energies to developing the IACI.
As director of the institute, he awarded grants to Irish writers, composers, artists, and Irish-language initiatives, introduced Irish-Americans to literary and historical tours of Ireland, established a summer programme in Ireland for American high-school students, brought Irish writers, musicians, academics and theatre companies to the US, and published the interdisciplinary scholarly journal Éire-Ireland. The Butler Literary Award, which he administered, proved a boon to writers in Irish, among them Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Breandán Ó hEithir and Liam Ó Muirthile.
He also established Irish Books and Media to bring Irish-published literature to US readers, and Irish Educational Services, which supports Irish-language schools in Ireland.
Today the IACI's research fund facilitates research into the Irish-American experience, while the institute jointly sponsors a visiting fellowship at the National University of Ireland, Galway. And the IACI, in partnership with the Arts Councils of the Republic and Northern Ireland, runs an artists-in-residence programme at the prestigious Contemporary Art Centre in New York.
Honours in recognition of McKiernan's cultural work include the John F. Kennedy gold medal of the AOH, the Éire Society of Boston gold medal, and life membership of the Royal Dublin Society.
He was honoured in 1999 by Irish-America magazine as one of the 100 Irish-Americans of the Century, and was awarded honorary doctorates by three universities, including the National University of Ireland.
He was predeceased by his wife, Jeannette, in 1996; his sons, Kevin, Brendan and Fergus, and daughters, Deirdre, Nuala, Ethna, Grania, Gillisa and Liadan survive him.
Eoin McKiernan: born May 10th, 1915; died July 18th, 2004