The sudden death of Mr Pat McKeown, chief executive of the Irish Retail Newsagents Association (IRNA), was last night greeted with sadness by industry leaders.
Described as "the voice of Irish retail newsagents", Mr McKeown became ill on Thursday night and died early yesterday in hospital. He was at work on Thursday and was not believed to have been suffering from any serious illness.
He spearheaded the formation of IRNA in 1988, which came about as a result of a split from the UK-based National Federation of Retail Newsagents.
Outgoing president of IRNA Mr Vincent Jennings said: "For our organisation, Pat was as close to irreplaceable as one can be. The progress made by the organisation since it began is largely down to Pat."