Paul Quinn obituary: Pioneer of peace process who did not seek plaudits

Born: December 24th, 1934

Died: October 8th, 2023

Paul Quinn, a Washington-based lawyer of Irish descent who has died aged 88, has been praised as an American “pioneer of the peace process”, a networker who played an “understated but important” role in seeking to end the conflict and a man who was a “fundraiser and friend-raiser” for Ireland.

Quinn, born on Christmas Eve 1934 in Pawtucket in Rhode Island, took a keen interest in Irish affairs right from the outset of the Troubles and mainly as a “background player” worked with the likes of Ted Kennedy, Tip O’Neill and John Hume in advancing and cementing peace in Northern Ireland.

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In more recent years he also was associated with US Congressman Richard Neal and other leading American politicians who continue to keep Ireland high on the political agenda in Washington.

Neal’s former chief of staff Billy Tranghese said that early in the process Quinn “helped in opening up contacts for John Hume in Washington” and that he was a “central figure in driving forward US interest in Ireland”.

His four grandparents were from Ireland. “They were Quinns from Coalisland in Co Tyrone, Flynns from Galway and McGees and Caseys from the midlands,” said his brother Thomas, also a lawyer.

Thomas recalled his brother beginning to take an interest in Ireland from his father Joe asking: “Why can’t they get along over there?” That curiosity had Quinn visiting Northern Ireland and studying the conflict at a time, said Thomas, “when it wasn’t very fashionable”.

Thomas added that Paul was in strong running to be appointed by President Bill Clinton as US ambassador to Ireland in the late 1990s but that he had to give way to Mike Sullivan, former Wyoming governor, who held greater sway with the president.

Paul Quinn was heavily involved in the Ireland Funds which were created in 1976 by Irish and American businessmen Sir Anthony O’Reilly and Dan Rooney. They have raised more than $600 million for a variety of peace-promoting causes.

Part of the genesis of the Ireland Funds was to challenge the activities of Noraid in the US, which was accused of using some of the donations it raised to provide arms for the IRA. Associates of Quinn say that from the 1970s he was firmly in the camp, promoted by Irish diplomats, that sought to divert support from Noraid to purposes dedicated to a political solution in the North.

The former chief executive of the Ireland Funds Kieran McLoughlin characterised Quinn as a ‘warm, elegant and dignified man who commanded respect’

Tim O’Connor, former Irish consul general in New York said that while Quinn, who made many visits to Ireland, was discreet in his engagements he made a significant contribution both politically and in helping bring US investment to Northern Ireland.

“He was a very quiet, understated figure who worked in the background. He was important in that intersection between the politics and the business; he worked that space very well,” said O’Connor.

Quinn learned the nature of politics and of fundraising from one of Rhode Island’s most famous if eccentric politicians, Senator Claiborne Pell, a Democrat noted for his parsimonious ways despite his wealth, and for his interest in the paranormal.

Quinn graduated from St Raphael Academy in Pawtucket in 1952 and from Providence College in 1956, later serving in the US army as a lieutenant. In 1961, not long after graduating from Georgetown Law School, he became the first legislative assistant to the then-newly-elected Senator Pell.

And while Quinn entered private law practice two years later he maintained a close friendship with Pell, who served 36 years in office.

He was a founding partner of the Washington law firm Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer and Quinn. He specialised in telecommunication, aviation and banking law.

He was an advocate and lobbyist and he used these skills to help build up a coterie of senior contacts anxious to find a way forward in the North.

Quinn was one of the founders of the annual American Ireland Fund gala dinner held each March during the St Patrick’s week events in Washington. It is a prestigious and lucrative fundraising dinner that has been attended by key businessmen and senior US politicians, including presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. And again Quinn was influential in ensuring VIP guest lists.

The former chief executive of the Ireland Funds Kieran McLoughlin characterised Quinn as a “warm, elegant and dignified man who commanded respect” and who in conversation offered a “wry and dry wit”.

“Paul was unswerving and unstinting in his work. He was both a fundraiser and a friend-raiser for Ireland,” he said.

Caitríona Fottrell, current head of the Ireland Funds, said Quinn made trips to Northern Ireland from the 1970s “in order to understand things and probably before it was safe or sensible to do so”. “He was just incredibly skilled at bringing people together,” she said.

The Irish ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason is scheduled to host an event celebrating Quinn’s life in mid-November in Washington.

Acquaintances said that in terms of the US he was something of a “pioneer” in the peace process and that with his capacity for establishing strong connections it was apt that one of his regularly quoted phrases was from Yeats: “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.”

Paul Quinn’s wife, Denise Kirby, to whom he was married for 59 years, predeceased him in 2016. He is survived by his sons, Stephen and Kevin, brothers Thomas and Francis and a wide family circle.