Michael Kelly had to wait until he was 28 to realise his ambition to study medicine. Born in Derry on August 14th 1921, he was the eldest of 10 children. After schooling at St Columb's College, Derry and Castleknock College, he joined the Munster and Leinster Bank; later he worked in various businesses.
He qualified M.B., B.Ch. from Trinity College, Dublin in 1959. It is noteworthy that he gained honours in all his undergraduate exams and won first prize in the Regius Professors examination in medicine.
In the following 10 years, prior to his consultant appointment to Jervis Street Hospital, his training took place in the UK. In 1963 he received his Diploma in Psychological Medicine (London). Apart from various registrar posts, he was employed by the Home Office as a forensic psychologist and worked for two years at Grendon Psychiatric Prison and in a new unit for alcoholics at Springfield open prison. He later worked in the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm where he was visiting senior researcher and lecturer in psychopharmacology. This latter post produced his MD thesis (TCD, July 1968).
His appointment in 1970 to the Charitable Infirmary in Jervis Street, Dublin was timely. The drugs scene was getting out of hand. With his experience, foresight and drive the Drugs Dependency Unit was born - in a Portakabin.
Even more demanding than his clinical work, administrative problems had to be surmounted; life at that time was an uphill struggle not only with the Department of Health but on occasion with his hospital colleagues.
In time his work was recognised and advice was often sought by the highest in the land among both Church and State. A consultant appointment followed to the Mater Dei Institute; he held this until 1986, when he retired from full time hospital consultancy. Michael was also the first medical director of the Rutland Centre, which opened in 1978, and was described as ground breaking for making available sophisticated modalities of therapy hitherto only available in a hospital setting. His pioneering work in the area of drug addiction and treatment earned him national recognition.
In 1968, Michael had married Rosalind Wright. She and their three children, Justin, Johanna and Jonathan, formed his main raison d'être during his retirement, which was cruelly marred by poor health. Importantly, he survived to see the children safely launched in life.
His death on November 5th was followed by a Memorial Mass on November 10th in the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey, at which the Taoiseach was represented by his aide-de-camp in recognition of Michael's work. As one colleague observed after the service: "The citizens of Dublin owe an immense debt to the life and work of Michael Kelly".
He donated his body to medical research at Trinity College, Dublin.
When visited during his long illness, he was invariably cheerful, a man of greet humanity to whom a smile came readily. To Justin, Johanna and Jonathan, and of course to Rosalind: Our sincere condolences. D.A.A.L.