Irish-American businessman John J (Jack) Kennedy, who has died aged 78, was active in the American-Ireland Fund and raised over $1 million for Irish charities.
Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on May 25th, 1924, he was one of the three children of John Kennedy and his wife Theresa (nee Flynn). His father's origins were in Waterford while his mother's family hailed from Dingle, Co Kerry.
He graduated from the University of Nebraska, and from Tufts University, Massachusetts, in 1949. He served with US Army Air Corps Intelligence in the Pacific during the second World War and saw action again in the Korean War. He held the rank of lieut colonel on his retirement. In the course of a successful business career, he was national sales manager of New England Instruments, marketing vice-president for Guild-Allied Control and was founding president of John J Kennedy Associates, a recruitment agency. He was an early member of the American-Ireland Fund, founded in 1976 by Sir Anthony O'Reilly and Dan Rooney, benefactor of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Jack Kennedy was an enthusiastic golfer and a member of Charles River Golf Club, Boston, where he was a past seniors' winner. In 1988, arising from a chance encounter in Falmouth, Cape Cod, with two Irish golfers, Frank Fitzpatrick and Bob Fitzsimons, he became involved in fundraising for charities in Ireland.
He was appointed national golf director of the American-Ireland Fund and organised golf tournaments, initially in Ocean Edge Golf and Country Club, Cape Cod, transferring after three years to his own club, Charles River, which made it easier for Bostonians to participate. He later organised tournaments in Chicago and Washington, making a total of three tournaments each year. Some of the funds he raised were spent on the construction of specially adapted housing for visually impaired people in the grounds of the former St Mary's Asylum for the Female Blind on the Merrion Road, Dublin.
He was instrumental in the purchase of two apartments for the Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust near St James's Hospital, Dublin, for the use of the parents and families of children undergoing treatment. St Malachy's primary school in Edenmore, Raheny, a designated disadvantaged area, also benefited from his endeavours. Computers were supplied for pupils and the provision of a creche made it possible for adults to attend special classes.
Jack Kennedy was an amiable man with simple tastes. He liked seafood and enjoyed a good cigar. A few beers after a game of golf was his limit and, while he was a great talker, he was not a man for breaking into song or for late-night revelry. An honorary member of Clontarf Golf Club, he regularly visited Ireland and over the years played at most of the country's golf courses. He always looked forward to meeting his relatives, the Ashe family, in Dingle.
Jack Kennedy is survived by his wife, Edith (nee Richards); five sons, John, William, Douglas, Stephen and Gregory; two daughters, Deborah and Nancy; and sister, Dorothy. He was predeceased by his brother, David.
Jack Kennedy: born May 25th 1924;
died September 24th 2002