Michael Dargan, who has died aged 87, was a businessman and bloodstock-breeder. A former chief executive of Aer Lingus and chairman of both Cement Roadstone Holdings and Burlington Industries, he was credited with getting the Fitzwilton Group out of financial difficulties in the 1970s.
A pioneer of management studies in Ireland, he was a founder member of the Irish Management Institute.
Born in Ballivor, Co Meath, on September 14th, 1918, he was the eldest of the seven children of Peter Dargan and his wife, Gretta (née O'Connor). His father was a farmer and a partner in two butchers' shops; his mother was a teacher.
It was a lively household, with musicians dropping in almost every evening and discussions about politics and international affairs that lasted long into the night. "There was as much said about Russia in our house as there was about Co Westmeath," he once recalled.
He was educated locally and by the Patrician Brothers at Ballyfin, and then attended teacher-training college but quit after less than a year. He wanted to start earning money and doubted whether he was suited to a career in teaching. Joining the Civil Service, he was assigned to the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, where he spent 10 years, the last three as private secretary to the minister, P.J. Little.
Outside Civil Service working hours he found time to buy and sell cattle, and he also obtained a Diploma in Business Administration at Trinity College Dublin. Having bought a farm, he set his sights on a job with Aer Lingus. He joined the company as personnel officer in 1947 and a year later was appointed staff and services manager, rising in 1958 to assistant general manager with responsibility for administration. In 1960 he was put in charge of commercial operations.
He led the company's loss-making North American division into profit, and oversaw diversification into lucrative ancillary activities such as hotels, computer services and training.
In 1967 he was appointed chief executive, the position he held until 1974. He was for a time chairman of the executive committee of the International Air Transport Association, the governing body for the world's main airlines.
He retired from Aer Lingus at the relatively early age of 55. "I felt if I'd stayed any longer, I would have been coasting. I'd given it all I could. The challenge would have gone out of the job," he said at the time. He returned, however, in 1980 to spend six years as chairman of the board.
In 1975 he became chairman of Fitzwilton at the behest of the group's bankers. Within a year he had reduced the group's debts of almost £26 million to £5 million. This entailed, along with other tough measures, the closure of Gouldings Fertilisers with the loss of 365 jobs, a decision that brought angry protests by workers. He resigned in 1977, leaving behind some red faces and bruised egos among board members.
More recently he was one of those named by the High Court inspector's report as having held an Ansbacher account while he was a Bank of Ireland director.
He told the Moriarty tribunal in 1999 that he held an account with the Ansbacher bank in the Cayman Islands for the purpose of moving funds between Ireland and other countries. He did not believe that he required permission to do so under the exchange control regulations, which then governed the movement of money in and out of the State.
He said he dealt with Des Traynor of Guinness & Mahon bank whom, he said, he knew "very well". "To me Guinness & Mahon and Ansbacher were the same thing," he told the tribunal.
He could not explain how a cheque paid to him in 1985 by the horse-breeder John Magnier was lodged to the account of Ciaran Haughey's company, Celtic Helicopters. "I have never made a contribution to, or an investment in, Celtic Helicopters, nor to Mr Haughey's affairs, nor was I ever asked, nor was I ever encouraged."
He had a lifelong interest in management principles and in 1950 embarked on an extended study tour in the United States. Later he was one of a group of people from the public and private sectors who met regularly to compare notes and discuss the further development of business education in Ireland. Out of these meetings grew the IMI, with which he continued to be closely involved.
A former senior steward of the Turf Club and board member of Goff's Bloodstock Sales, he had a substantial stud farm and residence at Balgriffin, Co Dublin. He was a director of the Agricultural Trust that owned the Farmers' Journal, and served on a number of public bodies. He was given an honorary doctorate in laws by University College Dublin, was a life fellow of the IMI and a fellow of the International Academy of Management.
In 1943 he married Blanche O'Rourke who, with their sons, Peter and Alan, and daughters, Ruth, Jean and Orla, survives him.
Michael Dargan: born September 14th, 1918; died January 11th, 2005