John Loftus Hayden, who died on June 7th, was chief executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) from 1983 to 2004, a significant period for third level education in Ireland. He played a low-key, but important role in many of the major developments of those years.
Born in Dublin in 1939 he grew up in Ranelagh, and was educated at Synge Street by the Christian Brothers for whom he retained a lifelong affection. He joined the staff of Dublin Corporation shortly after leaving school in 1956 and subsequently worked for ESB, Kosangas, Bord Fáilte and RTÉ. He completed an external degree in economics and statistics from London University in the 1960s, became a fellow of the Institute of Statistics and lectured on statistics at the Institute of Public Administration.
He joined the staff of the recently statutorily established HEA in 1973, became deputy to Jim Dukes later that year and succeeded him as chief executive in 1983. The following 20 years were to witness Ireland entering the era of mass higher education with well over half of all school leavers proceeding to third level.
Among the more significant developments during his time in office was the increasing number of students availing of the Erasmus process for study in other EU countries, the integration of the institutes of technology and other colleges within the HEA structure, the establishment of HEAnet to provide internet development to colleges, the regular surveys of new entrants to third-level and most important of all, the development of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), which did so much to lift the reputation of Irish universities internationally from the late 1990s onwards.
He was at various times a director of the CAO, the Dublin Dental Hospital and HEDCO, the Irish international educational aid organisation. He was treasurer of AHEAD, which promotes access to third level for disabled students. Overseas he engaged in consultancy for the OECD in Sudan and in Mozambique for the World Bank. His work was recognised by the National University of Ireland in 2004 with the award of an honorary doctorate in laws.
John was comfortable with both academics and administrators. He was widely read and interested in ideas. His interests ranged over theology, history, economics, hurling, Gaelic football and cricket. He was a fluent Irish speaker.
He was first and last a family man. He was devoted to Gemma and to his children, Eoin, Áine and Neasa, his grandsons, sons-in-law and the wider Hayden and Byrne families. He had a happy retirement with them. He bore his lengthy final illness with stoicism, great humour and spiritual calm. They can have proud memories of an exceptional public servant. I measc na naoimh go gcastar a anam fíor-dhílis.