The death has taken place of chartered accountant Mr Conor Crowley (71). He was a partner in the Kennedy Crowley practice, founded by his father, which later merged to become Stokes Kennedy Crowley, or SKC, and is now KPMG.

He was married to Ms Pat Crowley, one of the Republic's best known dress designers.

Mr Crowley was one of the three brothers - the late Niall, a former chairman of AIB, and Laurence, who is a director of Bank of Ireland - who were active in developing SKC into a leading accountancy firm.

Mr Crowley was a director of Dock Holdings, Navan Resources and Bank of Bermuda. He was a former director of Calor Teoranta.

He retired from SKC in the late 1980s as a senior partner. Former SKC managing partner Mr Ron Bolger described him last night as "an incomparable larger than life driving force" in the firm's history. "Very few business figures could match him as a catalyst," he said.

Current KPMG managing partner Mr Jerome Kennedy said he was "a wonderful colleague and friend who made a major contribution to Kennedy Crowly, SKC and KPMG in his 41 years working, 35 of them as a partner".

He was involved in advising many of the leading multinational companies which established in the Republic and in the early years of the IFSC.

He also had wide equestrian interests. Apart from his own competitive outings in the show jumping ring and, at the age of 60, his debut appearance at the Punchestown event, he was deeply involved in the administration of the sport.

Mr Crowley is survived by his wife Pat, brothers Laurence, Tim who is a judge, Roderick who is a priest, and sister, Marianne. He is also survived by one son, Vernon and two daughters, Lisa and Fiona.