If Bill Cunningham had not sadly died, after a relatively short illness on the 14th day of August 2004, he would have been a hundred years of age next May. Bill was brought up in Killiney where his father was Town Clerk of the Urban District Council. After local schooling he attended the High School and from there won a scholarship into Trinity where he studied classics and became a classical scholar. After leaving Trinity in 1928 to become an articled clerk in Craig Gardner and Co Chartered Accountants he rapidly moved up in the ranks becoming a partner in the firm in 1944 and eventually senior partner. His training in the classics, (he could quote extensively from Greek and Latin authors and read the New Testament in Greek), was an excellent preparation for an ordered and adaptable mind with wide interests in literature, particularly poetry, the theatre and sport. He loved golf, fishing and rugby and had a lifelong connection with Carrickmines Golf Club.
He enjoyed the garden, growing fruit and vegetables, and was for many years a member of Leopardstown Race Club. In his Trinity days he was a great friend of Samuel Beckett. They played golf together, walked the Wicklow hills and went cycling around Ireland.
Although spending a lifetime in Craig Gardners, Bill was never interested in money as an end in itself, but as a means of improving the lot of others.
He was always sympathetic and generous to charitable requests and any deal of corporate or individual dishonesty for the sake of greed was totally abhorrent to his nature. He was a shining example of honesty and integrity in the conduct of financial affairs.
He did towering work for the improvement of St Patrick's Cathedral and for its choral school and was on the Cathedral Board for many years, giving the soundest financial advice.
Bill's interests were not confined to St Patrick's. In the wider field of the Church of Ireland he, as chairman, was responsible for the survey of Church of Ireland schools and how the needs of young people could best be served by improved organisation of the system. He worked for Masonic charities to provide for widows and orphans and to provide educational opportunities for boys and girls. He was for many years on the board of governors of his alma mater, the High School of which he was chairman, and on the board of Dr Steevens Hospital. He was a lifelong member of the Catch Club where the members witnessed his keen sense of humour and conviviality.
At his funeral service, held in St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was packed to capacity, Dean Victor Griffin, who preached the homily, said of Bill, "that he was a loyal son of the Church of Ireland. He did not shout his religion from the housetops. He said his prayers every day. He was quietly content with The Book of Common Prayer and the King James authorised version of the Bible, for he had an ear as a classical scholar for poetry, rhythm and cadence. Not for him the excesses of fanatical fundamentalism on the one hand or modern liturgical or theological trends on the other. Above all, the Christian faith found expression in the life he lived and the example he gave."
He is survived by his wife, Nancy, his sons, John and Alan and his daughter, Margaret.
J. O'C