65 Facts About Tony O'Reilly

Sir Anthony Joseph Francis Tony O'Reilly was born on 7 May 1936 and is an Irish former businessman and international rugby union player.

Tony O'Reilly has six children and 19 grandchildren and is married to Chryss Goulandris.

Tony O'Reilly lived in Lyford Cay in the Bahamas until 2017, when the property was sold for less than €12 million as part of a bankruptcy arrangement.

Tony O'Reilly's Drogheda-born father, eventually an inspector-general of customs, was born "Reilly" and added the O' when he applied to join the Irish Civil Service.

Previously married with four older children, but estranged from his first wife, John Tony O'Reilly married Aileen O'Connor in 1973, after the death of his first wife and only a little time after he had told his son of his other family.

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Tony O'Reilly had been told about the situation by a Jesuit when he was 15, but kept it secret.

Tony O'Reilly arranged for the John and Aileen O'Reilly Library at Dublin City University to be named after his parents, and O'Reilly Hall at University College Dublin to be named for his father, who had studied there.

Tony O'Reilly holidayed with family, including an aunt in Balbriggan, cousins in Sligo and others in Drogheda.

Tony O'Reilly was an altar boy, and a regular attender at chapel, and during his time there spent a summer in the Gaeltacht to improve his Irish language skills.

Tony O'Reilly passed the Leaving Certificate at 17, and with four school mates, studied philosophy, still at Belvedere, for a year after this, while developing his rugby.

Tony O'Reilly was a prefect for his last two years at the school, and a senior member of a key sodality.

Tony O'Reilly went on to study law simultaneously with University College, Dublin and the then Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, in practice with Gerry Quinn.

Tony O'Reilly came fifth in Ireland in intermediate exams in 1956, and first and third in the country in final examinations in 1958, and was enrolled as a solicitor in November 1958.

Tony O'Reilly never practised after training, but later became chairman of the major Dublin solicitors' firm now known as Matheson.

Tony O'Reilly earned a PhD in agricultural marketing from the University of Bradford, and in addition holds at least one honorary doctorate.

Tony O'Reilly made his senior international debut, aged just 18, against France on 22 January 1955.

Tony O'Reilly scored his four tries for Ireland against France on 28 January 1956; against Scotland on 25 February 1956; against Wales in 1959; and against France in 1963.

Tony O'Reilly made his final appearance for Ireland on 14 February 1970, after a six-year absence from the national team, against England.

Tony O'Reilly toured twice with the British Lions, on their 1955 tour to South Africa and their 1959 tour to Australia and New Zealand.

Tony O'Reilly made his debut for the Lions on 26 June 1955, scoring two tries against a Northern Universities XV.

Tony O'Reilly played 15 games during the 1955 tour, scoring 16 tries.

Tony O'Reilly played in all six tests, two against Australia and four against New Zealand.

Tony O'Reilly scored tries in the two test wins against Australia and in the first and fourth tests against New Zealand.

Between 1955 and 1963 Tony O'Reilly made 30 appearances and scored 38 tries for the Barbarians.

Tony O'Reilly remains the Barbarians record holder for both appearances and tries.

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Tony O'Reilly was in the first class of inductees into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997, and was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in 2009.

Tony O'Reilly went from college to work as a management consultant for Weston-Evans in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, he earned £200 annually, which was a very good salary by the then Irish standards.

Tony O'Reilly's work included cost accounting and time-and-motion studies, in industries ranging from shoe-making to pottery.

Tony O'Reilly then moved to Sutton's of Cork, selling agricultural products, coal and oil.

Tony O'Reilly joined An Bord Bainne, the Irish Dairy Board, in 1962, as General Manager, and developed the successful Kerrygold "umbrella brand" for Irish export butter.

In February 1963, Tony O'Reilly was involved in an accident between Urlingford and Johnstown, when his car struck a cyclist, who was injured.

Tony O'Reilly was convicted of driving with undue care, and fined 4 pounds, and since then he has rarely driven, especially at night.

Tony O'Reilly moved to the company HQ in Pittsburgh in 1971 when he was promoted to Senior Vice President for the North America and Pacific region.

Tony O'Reilly became CEO in 1979 when Mr Gookin then Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer retired.

Tony O'Reilly's guidance was seen as having helped transform the company into a major international competitor, its value increasing twelvefold.

Tony O'Reilly was the main shareholder in Arcon, the Irish base-metal mining company that developed the Galmoy lead-zinc deposit, the company being co-founded with Richard Conroy, and later sold to Lundin Mining in 2005.

Tony O'Reilly pushed the company to expand into other national markets and to increase its reach in Ireland.

Tony O'Reilly has over 200 national and regional newspaper and magazine titles in total, revenues of €1.

Tony O'Reilly was part of the Valentia consortium that bought into Eircom, the former Irish state phone company, in November 2001, for €2.

Tony O'Reilly has sponsored and supported a wide range of charitable activities, and continues to do so.

Tony O'Reilly has supported many local initiatives, from floral street displays and signage for local nature walks in Kilcullen to commissioning, with his wife, a piece of music for the launch of the Dun Ailinne Interpretative Park.

Tony O'Reilly Foundation is a charity set up by Tony O'Reilly with a Board of Trustees composed of family members, chaired by his wife, and a Scholarship Board headed by Professor Emeritus John Kelly of UCD, succeeding Ken Whitaker.

Tony O'Reilly paid for the construction of the state-of-the-art 600 seat Tony O'Reilly Theatre in Belvedere College, and has regularly funded projects in the college.

Tony O'Reilly has contributed towards the Tony O'Reilly Institute, backed the development of Jewish Studies, and supported the Chair in Neuroscience.

Tony O'Reilly supported his alma mater, UCD, by funding the Tony O'Reilly Hall, named in honour of his parents.

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Tony O'Reilly was first engaged in 1958, to Dorothy Collins, whom he'd met in 1954, with the marriage planned for 1959.

Youngest daughter Caroline was married at the restored Church of St Mary at Castlemartin Estate on 1 June 1991, while eldest child Susan O'Reilly married investment banker Tarik C Wildman on 14 August 1993 before an Episcopal dean at the same church.

Shortly after, Tony O'Reilly married Chryss Goulandris, a Greek shipping heiress, who breeds and races thoroughbred horses as "Skymarc Farms" and under other names, and who owns stud farms in Normandy and other locations.

Chryss is well known on the racecourses of Ireland, Britain and France as Lady Tony O'Reilly and is very knowledgeable on all aspects of the equine industry.

The second Mrs Tony O'Reilly's brother has been a close business ally of Tony O'Reilly for many years since around the time of the marriage.

Tony O'Reilly purchased Castlemartin in 1972 from the Earl of Gowrie, and spent millions on improvements to the house and on restoration of the 15th century Church of St Mary in the grounds.

In October 2007, Tony O'Reilly paid a record €125, 000 per acre for 60-acre Hollyhill Stud in Carnalway near Brannockstown, under 3 kilometres from Kilcullen.

Tony O'Reilly has a holiday compound, Shorecliffe, comprising several houses, garden areas and two swimming pools, by the sea in Glandore, County Cork.

Tony O'Reilly's sons have noted that he is still a keen player of tennis.

Tony O'Reilly is an enthusiastic networker, and from early developed a wide range of acquaintances and friends.

Tony O'Reilly hosted the late Nelson Mandela more than once, and knows a range of Irish and American politicians.

Over 47 years, from his time at Suttons of Cork, Tony O'Reilly had a strong executive secretary, Olive Deasy, who managed aspects of his work and personal lives, living with his family for much of this time Also important was his driver, Arthur Whelan.

In 1978, Tony O'Reilly was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by Trinity College Dublin.

Tony O'Reilly was knighted in the 2001 New Year Honours "for services to Northern Ireland" – including in recognition for his work as head of The Ireland Funds charity.

Tony O'Reilly became locked in a legal case with a State-controlled bank, AIB, in relation to his multimillion-euro debts, with AIB seeking a summary judgment against him at the High Court.

Tony O'Reilly's lawyers disclosed that he had liabilities of more than €170 million and realisable assets of only €23 million.

Tony O'Reilly's lawyers argued that his Bahamas bankruptcy applied in America and thus negated her claim, however the US Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania declared that Tony O'Reilly cannot claim that his Bahamas bankruptcy automatically applies in the United States, because by then his "center of main interests" did not lie in the Bahamas" but in France, where he had settled since the case began.

An authorised biography, The Player: The Life of Tony O'Reilly, was written by Ivan Fallon, a journalist and biographer in the early 1990s, later a senior executive at one of O'Reilly's companies, and was for many years the only study of any length.

Tony O'Reilly facilitated the project, and the author was given access to family members, including past and current wives, and to staff and business colleagues.

In 2015, another biography of Tony O'Reilly was written by journalist Matt Cooper and published by Gill and Macmillan.

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