Tony O'Reilly
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Sir Anthony "Tony" O'Reilly (born 7 May 1936) is a Dublin born billionaire who holds both British and Irish nationality. He is best known through his chairmanship of the Dublin-based Independent News & Media Group (INM) and as former CEO of the H.J. Heinz Company, but was also previously an international rugby union player.
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[edit] Biography
Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly was born in Dublin. He was educated at the Jesuit-run Belvedere College, and went on to study law at University College, Dublin later qualifying as a Solicitor. He also holds a PhD in agricultural marketing from the University of Bradford.
[edit] Rugby Union
An excellent rugby union player, he played for Leicester Tigers and London Irish in England. He made his international debut as an 18 year old in the centre against France on 22nd January 1955 and went on to gain 28 caps for Ireland between 1955 and 1963, with a surprise 29th cap in 1970 against England at Twickenham.
He also toured twice with the British and Irish Lions, in 1955 to South Africa, and, in 1959 to Australia and New Zealand. In 1955 he was the youngest player to earn Lions selection at 19 years of age. O'Reilly made his test debut on the right wing before a then world record crowd of 95,000, at Ellis Park, Johannesburg on 6 August, 1955. He scored a try in the Lions 23-22 victory. He played in all four tests and scored a try in the fourth in a series that was drawn 2-2. He scored a record 16 tries in all games on the tour.
In 1959 and he played in all six tests, two against Australia and four against New Zealand. He scored tries in the two test wins against Australia and in the first and fourth tests against New Zealand, thus bringing his total to a Lion's record of six in test matches. He also set a try scoring record on that tour by scoring 22 tries. His total of 38 tries for the Lions on two tours, set a mark that has not been equalled.
He also holds the record for the most appearances for the Barbarians. He made his debut with the Barbarians in a 6 - 3 win against Cardiff RFC in 1955. He went on to represent the club a record 30 times scoring a record 38 tries. He made his final appearance for the Barbarians against Swansea RFC 8 years later in 1963.
He is a member of the IRFU Commercial Committee.
[edit] Business
He went to work for a consultancy company[citation needed] and then to Sutton's of Cork selling agricultural products, coal and oil. He joined An Bord Bainne (the Irish Dairy Board) in 1962 as General Manager, where he developed the Kerrygold brand. In 1966 he became head of the Irish Sugar Company.
O'Reilly made his name in international business at H. J. Heinz & Co. He joined the company in 1969 to become MD of the Heinz subsidiary in the UK. He moved to the company HQ in Pittsburgh in 1971 when he was promoted to Senior Vice President. In 1973, he became COO and President. He earned his Ph.D. in 1980.
He continued his rise and became CEO in 1979 and Chairman in 1987 succeeding H. J. Heinz II, the first non-Heinz family member to hold that post. His guidance helped transform the company into a major international competitor, increasing the company's value fifteen fold. O'Reilly left Heinz in 1998 in response to shareholder pressure; he was replaced with William R. Johnson. It is reported that O'Reilly still has a 2% shareholding in Heinz.
O'Reilly had bought into Independent News & Media, a Dublin-based company, in 1973; he currently holds a 29% stake. He pushed the company to expand into other national markets and to increase its reach in Ireland.
Throughout the 1990s INM bought into South Africa (from 1994), Australia (from 1987) and New Zealand (from 1995), acquiring 38 newspaper titles, over 70 radio stations, cable and telecoms interests at a cost of around €1.3 billion. In the United Kingdom, INM expanded its interests, taking control of the national broadsheet The Independent in 1995, edging out MGN and Prisa. The company has around 200 national and regional titles in total. In 2002 INM had revenues of €1.3 billion and profits of €223.2 million. The group has debts in the region of €1 billion.
O'Reilly also has interests in Fitzwilton, a holding company, with a 40% share in Waterford Wedgwood. He is also part of the Valentia consortium, which bought into Eircom, the former Irish state phone company, in 2001.
He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2001 New Year's Honours, and he sought the approval of the Irish Government in relation to the award, in recognition for his work as head of The Ireland Funds charity.
As O'Reilly is also a British subjectdue to his pre-1949 Irish birth, he can validly style himself Sir or KBE, as he has done; see British honours system.
- presumably he used his time working in England as a justification -
<<As a result of the 1948 Act, Irish citizens ("citizens of Éire") lost British subject status automatically on 1 January 1949 if they did not acquire citizenship of the UK & Colonies or that of another Commonwealth country, notwithstanding that the Irish Free State did not cease to be one of His Majesty's dominions until 18 April 1949.
However, section 2 of the Act allowed certain Irish citizens who were British subjects before 1949 to apply at any time to the Secretary of State to remain British subjects. Applications had to be based on: previous Crown service under the United Kingdom government;possession of a British passport; or associations by way of descent, residence or otherwise with the United Kingdom or any Crown colony, protectorate, UK mandated territory or UK trust territory.>>.
He is twice married, currently to Chryss Goulandris, a Greek shipping heiress, who breeds and races thoroughbred horses. She is well-known on the racecourses of Ireland, Britain and France as Lady O'Reilly and is very knowledgeable on all aspects of the equine industry. She was reputedly worth more than Sir Anthony when they married, as the tabloids and even some mainstream news media pointed out. Chryss made a naming gift in his honor in 1999 with the O'Reilly Theater in Pittsburgh.
[edit] The O'Reilly Foundation
The O'Reilly Foundation contributes to various projects, with an emphasis on the education sector. The John and Aileen O`Reilly Library at Dublin City University was named in honour of his parents as The O`Reilly Foundation contributed a substantial sum to the libraries capital costs in 2000 - he has also contributed to other university projects in the Republic of Ireland.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1936 births | Irish businesspeople | Irish entrepreneurs | Irish rugby union footballers | London Irish players | Mass media owners | Newspaper publishers of the 21st century (people) | Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire | People from County Dublin | International Rugby Hall of Fame members | Alumni of the University of Bradford | Living people
