Liam Jones, who died on August 25th aged 64, was a highly respected stockbroker who made a very significant contribution to the development of that discipline in Ireland. He introduced financial analysis at a time when institutions were demanding a more technical approach to buying and selling shares.
He was an energetic man known for his lively, logical mind, who always found time to help people starting out in the industry. Many people in Irish stockbroking today owe their own success to his patience and teaching.
A passionate advocate of the need to carry out fundamental research and analysis to back investment decisions, he insisted things be done properly, and set high standards of performance. But he was scrupulously fair and had strong feelings about the need for high ethical standards in his profession and fair play for shareholders.
A keen sailor, he was a man of few words with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. He was an accomplished cook who took great pleasure in entertaining his friends in his homes in Howth and Connemara.
A member of Howth and Royal Irish yacht clubs as well as Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club and the Connemara Golf Club, Liam Jones was a man who lived life to the full. He had a self-depreciating sense of humour and did not take life or himself too seriously.
Born on October 6th, 1935, in Liverpool, he was the second son of Molly (nee Barry) and William Jones. Shortly after his birth his father died aged 36, following which his family returned to Dublin, where his mother resumed her profession as a teacher.
Liam Jones went to secondary school at Newbridge College, Co Kildare, in 1949. When he left he worked for the retailers, Arnott, for a few years before going to University College, Dublin, where he studied for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. As a student he won the Irish and British Universities Lightweight Boxing Championship.
After qualifying in 1961, he went to Canada, where his brother Raymond was working in an bank.
He got a job in Richardsons, a stockbroking/financial management company, where he trained and then worked as an investment analyst.
He returned to Ireland in 1965 and worked part-time as a lecturer in finance at what is now the Dublin Institute of Technology and at UCD. While studying for a MBA at UCD - he was one of the first graduates of the course - he applied to many stockbroking firms. However, he was rejected by all but the small firm of Wilkinson and Faulkner, where he started in 1968.
Of stockbroking in Dublin then, he said he found it to be "primarily a clerical function", with little or no detailed investment analysis.
A strong believer in the importance of fundamental analysis to back investment decisions, he set about developing an analytical function at Wilkinson and Faulkner. He was the first person in Irish stockbroking to offer clients a professional research service, and built up a reputation as an astute analyst. The investing institutions responded by putting more and more business with Wilkinson and Faulkner. In 1976, the firm merged with Goodbody and Webb to form Goodbody Wilkinson. In 1985, Goodbody Wilkinson merged with Dudgeon to become Goodbody Dudgeon.
Through these mergers Liam Jones progressed in his career and by 1986 was deputy chairman of the enlarged firm and a major influence on how it was developing.
In that year the UK firm James Capel took a stake in Goodbody Dudgeon, which then became Goodbody James Capel. Three years later AIB bought the stockbrokers which is today known as Goodbody Stockbrokers.
Liam Jones remained deputy chairman of the firm from 1986 to 1993. In 1994, he was appointed chairman of Goodbody Holdings, the holding company for the stockbroking firm and some of AIB's other capital market activities, a position he held until his death.
He was a member of the influential Irish Stock Exchange Committee from 1989 to 1995. He was president of the Irish Stock Exchange from 1991 to 1993. He marked his election as president with a broadside aimed at accountants and company directors, many of whom he said follow practices which "leave a lot to be desired".
He was concerned for shareholders, whom he felt were losing out because he believed many public companies published as little information as possible about their activities and some produced misleading accounts.
"My first thoughts are always for the interests of the shareholder. I have always believed in putting the client first, and even as president of the exchange I will consider myself in the shareholders' corner," he said at the time.
He was predeceased by his wife Mary and his brother Raymond. He is survived by his sons, Morgan and Gavin, and his companion Elizabeth.
Liam Jones: born 1935; died, August 2000