THE WIDELY respected founding director of Limerick Civic Trust, Denis Leonard, was buried yesterday.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at St Paul’s Church in Limerick for the funeral Mass of Mr Leonard, who died last weekend following a brief illness.
The 62-year-old oversaw many of Limerick’s biggest restoration projects since he established the country’s first civic trust in 1983.
Past chairman of the trust Kieran Wood said Limerick was mourning one of its “true citizens” whose whole life was “tied up with duty to his city”.
Mr Wood told mourners that Denis Leonard set up Limerick Civic Trust at a time when concern for the environment and our heritage was low on the agenda.
“He had an elastic interpretation of words. The word ‘no’ meant ‘possibly’ or ‘probably’ to Denis. It never meant no. Persistence was one of his great traits.”
More than one thousand people have worked on trust projects over the past 25 years including people who worked with Fás on restoration work.
Fr David Leonard, a first cousin of Mr Leonard, was chief celebrant at yesterday’s Mass.
Survived by his wife Deirdre and daughters Rachel Sarah and Kate, Mr Leonard was later laid to rest at Castlemungret Cemetery.