When Eoin Dillon retired as general manager of the Aer Lingus London Tara Hotel in 1993, he and Neans returned to their home in Marlborough Road, Dublin, after 20 years in England. For years previously, they had been preparing for the change, furnishing the house for what they hoped would be a quiet and lengthy retirement. Within a little more than four years, they were both dead, Neans last February and Eoin on August 23rd last.
It is appropriate to mention Neans here, for they were a remarkably well-adjusted couple, both holding to their individual opinions and outlook while remaining deeply committed to each other. After Neans's death, Eoin was desolated; in some ways, the news three months later that he himself had only a limited time to live was not altogether unwelcome.
Eoin Dillon was proud of his family heritage. He was the younger son of Professor Thomas Dillon, Professor of Science at University College, Galway, and of Geraldine Plunkett, linking him with Oliver Plunkett, with Joseph Plunkett, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, and with John Dillon, the Irish Parliamentary leader. His brother Michael Dillon was the much-loved agricultural correspondent of The Irish Times and RTE, familiar for his machine-gun delivery of the pre-news bulletin list of market prices. A sister was Eilis Dillon, the well-known writer. Both Plunkett and Dillon families go back to Norman times and Eoin recalled that he once had to explain the Irish connection to the colonel of the Dillon Regiment in the French army.
After Clongowes Wood College, Eoin studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he met many of the Bohemian set on the Left Bank and developed a lifelong acquaintance with and love of music and literature. One of his last wishes, sadly unfulfilled, was to pay a farewell visit to Paris for the birth of his first grandchild.
In France, he also developed the expertise in food and wines which was to inspire his work as a hotelier. When he became catering manager at the Shelbourne Hotel, he introduced Dublin diners to some of the more exotic fruits and vegetables hitherto largely unknown in Ireland but now to be found in every supermarket. Later, he was general manager in both the Shelbourne and Gresham hotels before being head-hunted by Aer Lingus for the London Tara.
Eoin Dillon was more than just the Irish manager of an Irish hotel (the Tara was owned by Aer Lingus until after his retirement). He was a gracious and generous host and many friends visiting London over the two decades Eoin was in the Tara will remember the Dillons' hospitality with gratitude. Eoin developed the Tara from a mid-grade to a topgrade hotel and twice in successive years it was chosen as Hotel of the Year against the best competition. He himself gained the industry's highest honour when he was named as Hotelier of the Year in 1987.
He prided himself on his professionalism, scorning the amateurism of hoteliers who were content with untrained staff and sloppy service. No detail was too small for his attention. Staff training in the Tara was meticulous: all new entrants, including porters and cleaners, were given a week's familiarisation course with all parts of the hotel's operations and all food handlers had to pass hygiene examinations before being allowed to serve clients. He demanded the highest standards from all, insisting that the customer came first and any other consideration, including his own leisure time, came a long way behind. To ensure first-class customer service, he designed a computer system which enabled all aspects of the hotel's workings to be monitored minute by minute and which has been widely adopted in the industry.
His concern was also for his staff. He recruited many Irish workers, often finding accommodation as well as a job, either in the hotel or elsewhere, for young men and girls arriving from Ireland. His attitude to helping others was that they were entitled to his support as a debt of justice rather than as a gift of charity. So he took a personal interest in their welfare and helped them to develop to their full potential. Many hotel and restaurant managers in Britain and Ireland owe their success to his training and encouragement.
After his retirement he had more time for some of the pursuits he liked. He read widely, listened to classical music (and presented a programme of his favourites on RTE), entertained and dined out with friends and tinkered more than amateurishly with the DIY work he found a relaxation. But he continued to pass on his expertise to others, lecturing to the Irish Hotels and Catering Institute which he helped to found and acting as consultant. He and Neans travelled widely, their many friends in the hotel industry from Singapore to San Francisco welcoming their visits and gladly picking Eoin's brains. Among their close friends were the noted flautist, James Galway, and his wife Jeannie, who played at the Requiem Mass which was attended by a large number of friends, colleagues and acquaintances, including several of the Tara Hotel's past and present staff.
To Eoin Jr, Isoilde and Mark, the three children who lost both parents in six months and to Liz, who did so much to help Neans and Eoin in their final weeks, the sympathy of all is extended. D.F.