Tim Murphy (66), who died of cancer in Madrid last week, was a leading member of the Irish community in Spain, his home since 1972 when he arrived to open the Natwest Bank - first as representative and later as managing director.
He received an OBE in 1982 for his work in banking and as chairman of the British Chambers of Commerce in Spain. He also played a prominent role as a member of the European Chambers of Commerce. He later acted as a consultant for Allied Irish Banks and other financial institutions.
In later years his dream was to see the establishment of a St Patrick's Foundation in the Colegio de los Irlandeses in Alcala de Henares, one of Spain's oldest universities. He travelled around Europe and the US to raise funds to conserve the Irish College in Alcala University and to develop a foundation for cultural exchanges involving Ireland, Spain and Latin America.
In 1996, the Smurfit group donated the money to restore the historic library in the college.
Mr Murphy spent the first few years of his life in Hong Kong, where he was born in 1931. His father was chief of police. The family returned to Ireland, to Kinsale, before the outbreak of the second World War. He was educated at Clongowes Wood and Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied modern languages. He later studied in Seville, at the Sorbonne in Paris and was fluent and well read in Spanish and French.
While working in London he met his Spanish-born wife, Maria. The couple moved to Mombasa, Kenya, where Mr Murphy ran an education programme funded by the Aga Khan.
Mr Murphy was well known and loved in many different circles outside the business community. He was one of the founding members of the Madrid Irish Society in the early 1970s and was always prepared to co-operate and help in organising functions.
Mr Murphy's wife died in 1992. They had six children, Colleen, Timothy, Carmen, Rosa and twins, Daniela and Patrick.