Tributes were paid to former humorous columnist and television critic with The Irish Times, Brendan Glacken at a funeral Mass in Dublin today.
Pointing out that his father had outlived his original six-week cancer prognosis by almost three years, Ross Glacken told the ceremony at the Church of St Paul of the Cross, Mount Argus: "Brendan had a lust for life that I will always remember and hold close."
He continued: "He did not want people to be sad about his death, he wanted everyone to be happy and look forward to the party. So really this is not a grim or morbid funeral but a celebration of a great man and a great life.
"He loved being surrounded by a party, good friends, family and fine wine. At yesterday's wake he would have been delighted to know that, true to his passion for a good party, he was the first to arrive and the last to leave" he added.
The chief celebrant was Father Joe Kennedy, CP, assisted by Father Noel Redmond, CSSp, formerly of Rockwell College, and Father Sean Bredin, Order of St Camillus. The ceremony was watched from abroad by relatives of the deceased in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Japan on the parish internet website at http://www.mountargusparish.ie/
The funeral gifts included a published collection of the humorous
Times Squarecolumns which ran in the paper for ten years from 1992 to 2002. Brendan Glacken was "a wonderful writer" with an occasionally-acerbic wit, Father Kennedy said.
Chief mourners at the funeral were Brendan Glacken's wife, Trisha McKay, daughter Ruth, sons Ross and Nick, sisters Marita and Triona and brother Paul. A wide variety of other relatives, friends and former colleagues from
The Irish Times and the Oireachtas parliamentary reporting staff also attended.
Managing Editor Gerry Smyth represented
The Irish Times. The National Union of Journalists was represented by John Moran, Father of the Chapel at
The Irish Times, and John Brophy from the National Executive.
Former attorney general John Rogers SC, Cllr Mary Freehill and founding editor of
In Dublinmagazine John Doyle also attended.
Members of the Oireachtas reporting staff present included Josephine Grimes, Ann Maxwell, Reine McDonnell, Roisin Grisewood, Mary McCormack and Olive Murphy.
Former
Irish Timescolleagues in attendance included Caroline Walsh, Liam McAuley, Conor Goodman, Barry O'Keeffe, Kieran Fagan, Sheila Wayman, Fionnuala Mulcahy, Lorna Kernan and Helen Gygax.