TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to Richard Egan, the billionaire businessman who served as US ambassador to Ireland from 2001 to 2003.
The co-founder of top data storage equipment firm EMC Corporation, who had been suffering from terminal cancer, died last Friday.
The Boston Herald reported that Mr Egan took his own life, citing police and other sources.
Mr Egan, the “E” behind the EMC name, co-founded the Massachusetts-based company 30 years ago with Roger Marino, according to the company’s website.
Listed in Forbes’ 2009 list of the world’s billionaires with net worth of $1 billion, Mr Egan led the management team that took EMC company public in 1986 and was elected chairman of the board in 1998.
He also held the position of president and chief executive until 1992.
Mr Egan stepped down from the role of chairman in 2001 and retired from the board that year, when he took on the role of US ambassador to Ireland, a position he held until 2003.
“Dick’s vision became one of the world’s top technology companies, and his legacy will live on through the tens of thousands of lives he affected in so many positive ways,” Joe Tucci, EMC chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement.
Paul Cellucci, a former Massachusetts governor who served as ambassador to Canada, said Mr Egan was a friend whose support he appreciated.
“Dick Egan served his country with great honour and distinction as ambassador to Ireland,’’ Mr Cellucci said. – (Reuters)