Declan Madden, who died on December 29th, was a man of extraordinary talent, blessed with formidable intellectual skills. A director of IBEC, his work on social policy and education was outstanding, marrying a clear vision of business needs with an equally clear understanding of broader social influences and the legitimacy of other views. He was a gifted leader and inspired those around him with his capacity to think laterally and strategically; and with his sense of excellence, commitment and enthusiasm. His contribution to business representation and the national interest was extremely significant and will be remembered.
Declan will also be remembered for his friends. His gift for friendship was perhaps his most extraordinary attribute. He never shed a friendship or abandoned a friend. Time moves on and things change, of course, but Declan had a unique ability to keep every friend's niche in his soul, watered and ready for an instant return to use.
That he was a perfectionist and a deeply elegant man with boundless taste and style only added to his allure. His was a cosmopolitanism firmly rooted in Irish soil and it drew onto this terrain a galaxy of wonderful friends. The combination of these various threads in his personality meant that Declan enjoyed an incomparably deep connection with a multiplicity of different realms: the worlds of art, music, literature, style and popular culture collided in him with those of politics, business and serious professional endeavour. Meeting him in a group, you always knew you would want to know each member of the group as well, but never knew from Adam where they might come from. There were many strands to Declan's life and woven together they produced this unique, beautiful fabric of a person.
And of course the later Declan had to face the huge challenge of illness. Those of us lucky to have known him during this time marvelled not at the transformation - for Declan never changed - but at the deepening of his spirit and the power of his soul. Beneath the seductive surface beauty, we found a friend with a staggering courage, unbelievable strength and depth of determination that only a true crisis can reveal. Faced with ill health, his response was not to deny it or to consume himself with the depressing trivia that can so easily cloud out the intimidating signals of mortality. He reached past ill health, not ignoring it, but putting it firmly in its place. During this time he immersed himself in the meaning of his place in the world and of his soul within himself. A religious sensibility emerged and grew, nurtured not only by Declan's personal quest, but also by his matchless and ever-present sense of the aesthetic. He died - aged only 40 - surrounded by his loving family and closest friends, in his home, in control as ever and already planning the challenges ahead.
C.A.G (with J.D.)