Ray Dooley: In his comparatively short life - he was 54 when he died of pancreatic cancer last Sunday - Ray Dooley had performed in more roles than those "best actors in the world" who came to visit Hamlet at Elsinore. But, unlike Hamlet, procrastination was not part of his make-up.
He was a dynamic doer, motivated by deep compassion for the vulnerable, whether in Ireland, where he lived this past six years, or in the US where he played key roles in Boston politics.
He was "probably the only guy in the world whose resumé could list stints as protester and proofreader, editor and agitator, trash collector and bond trader, City Hall honcho and grassroots organiser, congressional chief of staff and door-to-door canvasser. And talker and talker and talker," recalled former US congressman Joe Kennedy in a eulogy at the funeral Mass in Howth last Wednesday.
But above all, Kennedy continued, "he was kind, was kind, was kind. He lived the ideals of Robert Emmet's life and he lived out Henry James's advice."
Kennedy had just told the large attendance at the "Mass of Thanksgving for the life of Ray Dooley" in the Church of the Assumption "a story that has to do with both Ireland and America, even as Ray Dooley went back and forth between those two countries. One of America's greatest novelists, Henry James, was descended from one of Ireland's greatest moral leaders, Robert Emmet, who gave his life for Ireland. Henry James, asked to share his wisdom with a nephew preparing to leave for college, wrote: 'Three things I would tell your son (my nephew): One, be kind. Two, be kind. Three, be kind.'"
Yet Ray Dooley's "reputation for tough political thinking and aggressive deal-making was accurate", but "that image hid something deeper and more important about his character. And that was his devotion to helping others, particularly the poor, those on the outside of power," Kennedy said.
Born in Baltimore, Dooley graduated in history (cum laude) from Boston College in 1980, when he was also campaign manager for Tom Gallagher as a state representative.
But it was his work as manager of Ray Flynn's successful campaign for mayor of Boston in 1983 that brought him into the limelight.
He was Flynn's chief operations officer from 1984 until 1990, responsible for the administrative and fiscal management of government in Boston, with an annual budget of $1.3 billion and an estimated 20,000 employees.
In that period also Boston became one of the first US cities to divest itself of companies doing business in South Africa, and to penalise firms refusing to operate by the MacBride Principles to end discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.
From 1995 until 1998 he was chief of staff for Congressman Joe Kennedy, with whom he set up the Citizens Energy Corporation in 1998. It provides cheap fuel to poor people. He also set up Citizens International to provide the Nigerian people with healthcare, food and shelter, by getting oil companies to invest some of the wealth they accumulate there in that country.
In 1996 he was director of John Kerry's successful re-election campaign for the US Senate, and in between those years he held a succession of consultancies in the public sector.
Then in 2000 he and his family went to live in Howth. He and his wife, barrister Anne Rowland, who is Irish, loved Howth. They had married there some years before.
"With all the great opportunities in politics, he chose to follow his heart and his family. That's because with Ray, his moral calling was more important than money or titles or public acclaim," Joe Kennedy commented.
But Ray Dooley was hardly in Ireland when he became first chief executive at the Children's Rights Alliance in 2000, where he was a passionate advocate for children during the following four years.
He practised what he preached. He brought his children, Catriona, Conor and Brian, to school every day.
Indeed, he asked to be buried with Anne Rowland's people in Mayo, rather than in the Howth graveyard which his children pass on the way to school every day. All three children took part in the readings at his funeral Mass, while Anne read from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which was also read at their marriage in the same church.
Addressing Catriona, Conor and Brian individually, as he had during his eulogy, Joe Kennedy concluded: "What your father stood for and fought for meant so much to so many. Surely your father's life, his values and purpose and deeds, will inform, nourish and strengthen your lives, and all our lives, over the years ahead."
Ray Dooley: born October 13th, 1951; died April 9th, 2006