Unfailingly kind and helpful former chief of Dublin port:ROBERT HAYES, who died aged 82, was a former county manager for South Tipperary and, subsequently, chief executive of the Dublin Port and Docks Board.
Known as Bob to his many friends and colleagues, his father was Maj Gen Liam Hayes, a senior officer in the Free State army and a veteran of the War of Independence.
The family was deeply involved in the equine world and Bob’s brother Seamus became one of Ireland’s and the world’s great show-jumpers.
Bob himself was no mean horseman, but gave it up to concentrate on his career as an engineer.
He was born in Cork and educated at Belvedere College in Dublin and at UCD, where he took his degree in civil engineering in 1947.
While in college he met Alice McMenamin, a daughter of Dan McMenamin, for many years Fine Gael TD for Donegal North East. They married in 1954 and were a devoted couple for 55 years.
After a number of jobs in both the public and private sectors, he travelled to the United States in 1963, where he took a Master’s degree in traffic and transportation at Ohio State University.
Back home he became after a time county engineer for Cavan and later county manager for South Tipperary, stationed in Clonmel. His time there was highly successful and he made many improvements to the county infrastructure.
Perhaps his main achievement was the major part he played in attracting US chemicals firm Merck Sharp and Dohme to the area.
In 1975 he was appointed general manager (subsequently chief executive) of the Dublin Port and Docks Board.
It was a time of significant change for the port, with Ireland now a member of what was then the EEC, and the advent of container traffic and other new technology.
This involved lengthy and often fractious disputes with the dockers’ union and the stevedores.
During his tenure the port moved its offices from the old Ballast Office on Westmoreland Street to a new purpose-built Port Centre in the middle of its operations at the junction of East Wall and Alexandra roads.
Bob retired in 1990 and had several productive years as a private consultant.
Gradually he ceased this and was content to devote himself to his much-loved family.
He took great pleasure in gardening and golf.
Perhaps because of his family background and his long years of service as a lieutenant in the FCA, he always maintained something of the military about him. Impeccably groomed and punctilious about doing the right thing by people, as he saw it, he was also unfailingly kind and helpful to those who needed it.
He is survived by Alice, his daughters Catharine and Barbra, and his son Liam, and by four grandchildren.
Robert N Hayes: born December 1926; died July 9th, 2009