Frank O'Kane, who died on February 27th aged 58, was one of those most responsible for building up the credit union movement in the northwest of Ireland. He was on the board of Pennyburn Credit Union in Derry for more than two decades and was a teacher at St Columb's College.
He joined the board of his local credit union - located in a fast-growing area of Derry - in 1975 and got started on the busy and demanding road which would see him become president of the Irish League of Credit Unions in 1993.
It was not long before he was chairman of the chapter which is made up of credit unions in Derry, Donegal and Tyrone.
He put a lot of effort into travelling around this region, especially to help credit unions which were starting up and undergoing preliminary training.
To this work he brought not only his skills as a teacher and his deep knowledge of credit unions but also his wit and his droll, dry sense of humour.
He joined the national board in 1986 and quickly earned the respect of the credit union movement in general. He was very involved in producing a report outlining an overall strategy for the movement. His period on the board included the leaner years for the Irish economy but despite, or perhaps because of that, the credit union movement was undergoing a strong period of growth and consolidation.
It was a time when people of his energy, foresight and dedication proved to be very valuable. On completion of a nine-year stint on the national board, he returned with undiminished enthusiasm to his work with the credit union in Pennyburn and the Derry, Donegal, Tyrone region. Despite ill-health he continued to contribute to the credit union movement up until weeks before he died.
He was born in the townland of Park in Co Derry to Frank and Alice (nee Nicholas) O'Kane. His father was a farmer and auctioneer.
He was educated at Kilgort school, St Columb's in Derry and Maynooth College.
At Maynooth he decided that the priesthood was not for him and he took up a teaching post at St Patrick's and St Brigid's secondary school at Claudy, not far from where he was born.
It was there that he met another teacher, Mary McKinney and they married in August 1966, the same year, as it happened, that Pennyburn Credit Union opened its doors for the first time.
From St Patrick's and St Brigid's he moved to St Columb's in Derry where he taught French and history until poor health forced him to retire early.
During his time there he represented staff on the board of governors.
His popularity at the school was attested to by the formation of a guard of honour by students at his funeral.
Colleagues from the Pennyburn Credit Union formed another guard of honour.
He is survived by his wife, Mary and by his children, Claire, Conor, Christine, Cormac, Gavin and Feargal.
Frank O'Kane: born 1941; died February, 2000